The man is always taller
by Gaia the Reader
Summary: What if Edward's rescue, during New Moon, had gone differently? What if Bella had to face consequences for her interference in Volterra? Bella must face new obstacles to finally go home for good. But where will she find herself at home? Don't like it, don't read it. Review, darlings! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

BELLA'S POV

As I ran toward the place where Edward was supposed to show himself, Piazza dei Priori, my mind was reeling. The multiple outcomes of this situation were twirling inside my human brain. I knew I should have concentrated on my feet—I was the Queen of Klutzy people, after all—but I couldn't help it.

_I should be near the tower_, I thought. I took a turn to the left and saw it.

I almost sobbed in relief. Because there, standing under the looming tower, there was Edward, in all his perfect, youthful beauty. I shot toward him, elbowing my way through.

"Guarda dove vai!" a man shouted at me.

What if we got caught by the Volturi? Would we die? Would _I_ die? What if I didn't reach him in time? Once again questions clouded my mind and, as concentrated as I was on them, I didn't see the stone fountain I was walking into. "Ouch!" I shout-whispered, rubbing my scraped knees. I looked down at my knees and saw, though I was not gravely wounded, a tiny drop of blood sliding down my calf.

Fantastic. I was going into the heart of Volterra, the vampire's city, with drops of blood sliding down my legs. Shit.

I quickly regained my composure and got back to running. My lungs burned even after the short reprieve my incident caused, and my panic made it that I didn't pay attention to where I put my feet. I ignored a few people cursing at me in Italian and sped toward the clock tower.

The red mantels surrounding me made me nearly lose my way. All I saw was red. Red as the bad vampires' eyes, red as blood, red as Victoria's hair…

I mentally shook myself. _Edward. Concentrate on saving him._

With a gasp I broke free of the mass' hold. A tear of relief escaped me when I saw recognition in Edward's eyes, as they connected with mine. He was just as I remembered him: pale, beautiful, tall and sleek. His eyes were completely black. Hunger or else I didn't know, nor I cared. In what felt like a second, I had found myself running in his open arms and being held in his strong, cold hold. My face was pressed against the stony flesh of his chest.

"Bella" he breathed, "You are here. You are well."

"Yes! I'm alive, see?" I took his face into my hands. "Now we have to go, Edward. Or we will die."

His eyes were suddenly sharp and alert. "Yes. Follow me" he said, and grabbed my hand. He tugged me along and I wordlessly followed. "Where are we going?" I asked whispering. "Alice is waiting for us in a car. She is this way" he answered me, reassuringly squeezing my hand. When I nodded, he smiled, and it was a beautiful thing.

"I'm happy you are here, Bella" he said, in a choked voice, "I thought I had lost you."

My mind lifted an imaginary STOP sign. _What the hell?_ He left me. He said I was a distraction, that I was not good enough. _He_ was the one who left _me_. "But you left me" I said, voicing my musings, my tone betraying my confusion.

He sighed. "Can we, please, concentrate of leaving this city alive? Then we can talk about anything you want, my love" he reassured me.

"All right" I muttered back, knowing that he could hear me despite my low volume. My mind was screaming at me to demand answers now, but I was too tired to listen. I had not slept well on the way to Italy, nor I had for many months before that. I hadn't slept peacefully since the Cullens left me.

The fear of Victoria had only increased after my… _encounter_, shall we say, with Laurent, and the dreams often plaguing my sleep kept me from truly resting.

"There she is!" Edward exclaimed, relief evident in his features. He pointed to a beautiful yellow Porsche 911 Turbo, hidden in the shadow of a garage.

"Oh God…" I muttered, "Nothing flashier?" I added sarcastically. Alice came running toward us, holding a long-sleeved, black shirt and a black hat in her hands.

She herself was completely covered in cloth, her hands shielded by leather gloves and her eyes and face occulted by sunglasses and a silk scarf.

"You moron! Next time you do something as mad as this I'll kill you myself!" she hissed, but even I could see the venom tears in her eyes as she offered her brother the clothes.

Edward laughed and hugged the pixie. "Don't worry, Alice. I'm finally back" he gently told her, and she finally hugged him back, shaking lightly because of her sobs. "You better be. Esme will kill you otherwise" she joked, faking a stern look.

He laughed soundly, then put on the shirt and clapped his hands once. "Shall we go home?"

Alice nodded her assertion. Then, she turned to me. "Everyone is waiting for you at home. Esme and Rosalie have already explained your absence to Charlie, justifying it as a reconciliation-journey. This will also clear up any questions as to our return."

"Wait, you are returning to Forks?" I asked, disbelieving. The two vampires both nodded, smiling gently.

I was so happy. I squealed and jumped to hug them. They squeezed me back laughing.

"So, we are safe, not dead, and we are going home?" I asked. I didn't care if I looked like an idiot. I needed confirmation.

"Yes, we are safe, and most certainly not dead, my Bella. At least, not completely, in my case and Alice's. And, to answer your last question, yes. We are going home" Edward answered me. His sister rolled her eyes at the 'dead' remark.

She interrupted me before I could speak again, probably having _seen_ I was about to grill them with more questions. "Well, now that everything's clear, shall we go home?" she repeated Edward's question. My mind was nowhere near clear, but I smiled nonetheless.

"Yes, Alice" I said enthusiastically, "Let's go home."


	2. Chapter 2

FELIX'S POV

I was inhumanly bored.

Master Aro had ordered me, Jane and Demetri to patrol the city and to keep an eye out for that ass. The Cullen boy. Edwin… no, _Edward_.

The boy had come into the city not more than two days before, asking for death. I certainly did not mind granting his wish, but Master Aro had denied his request. He had deemed his talent too valuable, claiming that time healed all wounds.

I snorted, remembering the face of the boy when his wish was denied. He was already looking like shit, with his eyes black and his clothes ruffled worse than a nomad's, but the last bit of dignity—or even sanity—he had left crumbled when my master spoke those words.

Master Aro had looked rather disgusted, and slightly ashamed, at the boy's breakdown, while Caius and Marcus simply watched the scene unfold. Marcus was obviously uninterested, as he had been in everything since Dydime's demise; Caius, though, seemed too occupied with a letter he was handwriting to bother with the wailing vampire.

I, though, had mildly enjoyed Edward's pain, as did my fellow Guards (and not only the ones who were in the room at the time—word spread fast). He had fallen to his knees, begging for mercy and death, claiming that his love was gone and he hurt and _blah blah blah_.

He was saying pathetic bullshit. I was even more set on my idea when Aro, trying to comfort the young vampire, let slip that the boy's love was human.

I mean… seriously? A _human_?

I had always suspected that drinking only animal blood would kill brain cells with time, but now I was sure.

So, now we were patrolling the city to avoid incidents. Incidents with the name Edward Cullen on them. Aro had commanded us not to cause trouble, and to leave the boy alone if he leaved Volterra without making a mess. So we were doing.

I was hidden in an alley, idly watching the red-cloaked humans stroll by, unaware of the several centuries-old, lethal predator standing a few feet from them, when I heard a whistle.

The sound, too low for human ears, had me smile in anticipation. Demetri had found something interesting. I quickly ran toward the origin of the sound, making sure no human could spot me, and, when I arrived, Demetri was smiling like an idiot. I raised a brow in question.

"Seems like we will have fun today" he stated, nodding his head to his right. As I looked, a sly smile spread on my face.

"Seems like it" I agreed. For it was none other than Edward Cullen standing dangerously near the sunlight.

"At least he didn't cause a bloodbath" Demetri mused. I snorted, "His ass probably couldn't take it to kill _poor innocent humans_" I mocked the boy, and my companion laughed. He was more than a companion, actually, he was like a brother, but we were on mission, and we needed concentration.

"What the—" Demetri started, before furrowing his brow and stating, "Another vampire is in Volterra."

"Who is it?" I asked fervently.

"Don't know. I have never encountered this mind."

"A newborn maybe?" I mused.

"No, I don't think so. This person is going straight for Edward. Like they knew he would be here."

"The seer" I breathed in realisation. She was the only one who could know that.

Before he sent us on this mission, Aro had briefed us on the Olympic Coven's gifted members. Edward was telepathic, Alice was a seer, and Jasper Whitlock—they had the fucking _God of War_, for goddamn sake—was an empath. Him and the seer were mated, moreover. A corner of my mind wondered if he would join his mate, if our assumption was correct about this unknown vampire, in this rescue mission.

Demetri, as if he could read my mind, said "She's alone."

Pity, I wouldn't have minded meeting the God of War. When I voiced my thought, my friend smirked. "Maybe another time, Felix. Now let's concentrate on the boy" he said, and pointed at Cullen.

We both stared at him, but then I realised something. "Dem, where is Jane?"

"She's patrolling the other side of the city. I texted her we could handle this situation by ourselves, and she agreed to keep scouting for other possible problems in the city."

"Let's hope she—" I started, but then something caught my attention.

It was a young human girl. She was sprinting exceptionally fast through the people, trying to avoid knocking into them but not always succeeding. Her hair were long and a mahogany colour, but they possessed shades that went from golden to black to red in them. Her skin was as pale as a porcelain doll's and she was petite, but even from my spot I could see she was elegantly curvy.

And she was heading straight for Edward Cullen.

"What the hell?" Demetri gasped.

"What's wrong? Dude!" I shook him, as he failed to answer my question.

"I-I can't get a read of her mind" he muttered. He looked shell shocked, "It's like she does not exist."

"How is that possible?" I asked, and while we were talking, the girl had reached the young vampire, crushing into his arms.

"It _shouldn't_ be possible!" he hissed back.

"Calm down, dude. Just trying to figure out what the hell is going on." I lifted my hands.

I went back to observing the Cullen boy. He was now talking fervently with the girl, and then he grabbed her hand and dragged her away. She diligently followed him, and my gaze trailed them until I could no longer see them.

"Where are they going?" I asked Demetri, hoping he was out of his trance and willing to kick him in the balls if that was not the case.

"They are meeting with the seer. They will probably leave with her" he answered.

"Theni think it's best if we inform Aro" I declared, and he nodded, still a bit dazed. For once I was the clear-headed one. Usually _he_ was the cool, reasoning vampire and I was the brute, more instinctual one. It was nice to feel in control.

"Text Jane and tell her we are done here" I ordered him. He obliged quickly, and then we were running.

We breezed into the castle and Gianna greeted us. I didn't bother with a reply. I had no interest whatsoever in her. She was pretty, yes, but she had the personality of a board.

"Hey guys! Finally that Cullen is gone, huh?" Jane said brightly, strolling into view.

We rolled our eyes and walked to the wooden door that led to the throne room. Demetri knocked once, after we had assumed our position (Jane was at Dem's left, I was at his right), and a cheery voice replied almost instantly.

"Entrate!" came Aro's reply.

We swiftly opened the doors and strolled at the centre of the room, bowing respectfully. We heard a soft sigh and lifted our heads to look at our Master. Aro was clad in his usual black attire, and he was flaked, as always, by his brothers. Caius looked annoyed and angered, while Marcus wore his usual bored expression.

"I hope you bring us good news?" Aro asked us, looking a bit sad. Caius snorted and said, "Depends on what you think are good news, brother."

I chuckled, and Caius smirked at me. Unlike the façade he wore when vampires not loyal to the Volturi were around, his true self was easy going. Still cranky and hateful, but only when necessary. He had trained me himself and, with time, we had developed a bond of close friendship.

"Cullen lives" Demetri stated. Caius looked annoyed and slightly disappointed—he truly hated the boy—and Aro sighed. With relief or otherwise I did not know.

"But…" Dem resumed talking, then he stopped furrowing his brow. That caught our masters' attention.

"What is it?" Caius asked impatiently.

Demetri simply shook his head. He offered a hand to our raven-haired leader, and he instantly took it in his. After six seconds he gasped, and dropped Demetri's hand like it was on fire. He then proceeded to squeal like a little girl.

"This is a magnificent day!" he exclaimed, confusing us even further. What the hell? I laughed inwardly as Caius voiced the question at the same time I had thought it.

Aro twirled and went to grab his brothers' shoulders. "Not only our Bella is alive—and even more beautiful than she was in Edward's thoughts, I shall say—but she is a powerful human, too. What a great discovery!"

I lifted my brow. So that beauty was Cullen's lover? I couldn't believe it.

An idiotic smile sliced my face at Aro's next statement. "We simply _have_ to invite her to stay with us for a while! She seems so lovely! I shall write her a letter, and Felix and Demetri will deliver it to her at once! Don't you agree, brothers?" he asked them.

"I don't see how that human is so special, but if you think she might be lovely…" Caius muttered, confused.

"Trust me, she is! But all will be cleared when she will come here! Now, Santiago, please fetch me a quill and some paper at once!"

As the guard sped to obey Master Aro's orders, I grinned.

This was going to be interesting.


	3. Chapter 3

BELLA'S POV

I had slept the entire flight back. Luckily Alice had booked First Class, or else I wouldn't have slept so peacefully. And yes, I had no nightmares. Surprisingly enough.

The entire Cullen family had been at the airport waiting for our return. The first to reach me had been Emmett, who had crushed me in a massive hug and twirled me around, screaming in my ear how much he had missed me. Then had come Carlisle, Esme—who had been on the verge of tears—, Jasper and, last but not least, Rosalie. The blonde vampire had awkwardly hugged me and thanked me for saving her brother, then she had returned to her husband's side, smiling softly at me. Needless to say, her actions left me speechless. We had never gotten quite along, but my courage had impressed her. After returning home—and getting a mild but heartfelt earful from Charlie—we had become best friends.

The same friendship had led me to the situation I was at the moment, which was me, standing in the middle of a very big, _very_ expensive dress shop, with Rose and Alice. The girls were searching for a dress suitable for my 'homecoming party'. It had been three days since I had returned with Edward and Alice from Volterra, and the family had agreed that a party was necessary to celebrate our survival.

"Bells, look at this!" Alice called, holding in one hand a light pink satin dress. I shook my head, "I would look like a candy dressed like that. I want nothing pink."

She pouted, and Rose laughed, "As you wish, Bella." Luckily she was more accommodating with me than Alice was, or else I wouldn't have been able to survive any shopping session. The sisters' styles were clashing—Alice was more for elegance, Rose favoured sexiness—but it seemed that they managed to mix them perfectly while dressing me.

"This?" Rose asked, holding up a dark blue, long-sleeved dress. I actually liked it… or, at least, I did before she turned it and revealed the non-existent back. My eyes widened and she immediately put it back, understanding my reaction. Rose was really great, she read me like none other could. It seemed as if we had been friends for ages and not mere days.

Alice sighed dramatically. "Bella, this search would be more fruitful if you, too, looked at the dresses, instead of letting us do all the work."

"But you were the one who told me to sit here and—oh, whatever!" I complained, rising to my feet and starting to wander between the rows of dresses.

In that shop there were a lot of beautiful dresses, but the ones in this private section—the _Cullen's_ private section—there were the most stunning creations I had ever seen. I walked leisurely and looked at every dress, hoping to find the one right for me. The criteria were: comfortable, not too flashy, not too revealing, not pink (or any other colour that would make me look like a sweet). I had clarified this much when we had entered the shop.

"Bells!" Rose called, and I looked back to see her holding a dark orange dress. I pursed my mouth, "The model seems fine but the colour…" I left he sentence unfinished and she nodded.

"You are right, this colour would diminish your beauty" she stated, and laughed when I blushed bright red. "Yeah, yeah. As if I was beautiful" I muttered.

"You are! And we will find a dress that will make you even more stunning. Every male will drool" Alice stated firmly, and Rose nodded her agreement. I sighed, returning to my search.

Two hours and seventeen dresses later, something caught my eye. "Girls!" I called. They were immediately by my side. I pointed to the dress and Rosalie went to get it. "Wow…" she breathed, eyes sparkling.

Alice squealed excitedly. "This. Is. Perfect! I have already a look planned in my mind, you will be gorgeous! Let's go!" She didn't give us a chance to object before she stormed to pay the dresses. She also arranged to have them delivered to the Cullen mansion in two hours, along with accessories and shoes she chose on the way.

We were back at the home in an hour, thanks to Alice's crazy driving. Rose grabbed me and ran at top speed to her room, where Alice was already taking out cosmetics and other things. The entire family was set on not letting me see the decoration for the party, which was due this evening, and that was why Rose even _locked_ the door. "Is this really necessary? I mean, it's my party, after all" I said.

"Yes, it is. We want it to be a surprise!" Alice answered, before clapping her hands. End of discussion. "So" she started, "Now it's three pm, the dresses will arrive in an hour and the party will start at seven. We need to hurry."

"Am I so hideous that you need six hours to make me look presentable?" I asked, frowning.

"How many times do we have to say it, Bells? You are not ugly, and we only need six hours to complete our looks. We want to look breath-taking, don't we?" Rose massaged my shoulders, while simultaneously talking and pushing me on a chair.

I sat, sighing in defeat. I knew what was coming. I closed my eyes as my sisters worked their magic on me. Regardless of what they claimed, I was not beautiful. I was pretty, at most. And only in rare occasions. I could never compare to their beauty, or even the one of some humans. I was plain, and they were simply trying to make me feel less self-conscious.

An hour later I heard the doorbell ring, and Rose breezed out the room to retrieve our dresses and other things. She set them all on her bed and said "We will look beautiful!"

"Yeah! Our looks seem matched!" Alice added excitedly.

_I will be the ugly one of the trio, then_, I thought.

I didn't open my eyes to see their looks, or the accessories Alice had bought. I simply sat there, eyes closed, letting them style my hair and put make-up on my face (they didn't put as much as I thought, tho).

An eternity later, the hands stopped and I heard a light squeal. I tentatively opened an eye, and saw both Rosalie and Alice standing in front of me, grinning like idiots. "What?" I asked.

They didn't answer, but simply shared a conspirator look. Only then did I notice that the mirror dominating the left side of the room was gone. "Oh, come on! I can't even see my own look?" I asked, disbelieving. The shook their heads, those shit-eating grins still on their faces. I noticed that they, too, had put on make-up and fixed their hair.

"On with the clothes, then!" Alice commanded.

We all turned to the bed, and picked up our respective dresses. We helped each other with putting them on and then proceeded to put on accessories and shoes.

I glared evilly at Alice when she handed me a pair of white, pointy stilettos. _Very_ _high_ stilettos. "You will not stumble, fall or trip once. I swear" Alice assured me. I was still pissed, but I knew to trust her visions.

When we were done, Rosalie took out the massive, now covered-in-cloth mirror from under the bed. I snorted and she grinned. "Couldn't think of any other place to hide it?" I joked, and she winked at me.

"Ready for the reveal?" she asked, and I nodded, pretty nervous. The girls looked flawless, as always, but what about me?

"Alright" Rose announced, "Three, two, one… ta-da!"

The cloth fell from the mirror. Three goddesses looked back at us.

The one on the left, the smallest, pixie-like one, was wearing an off-the-shoulder pastel blue dress. The layered skirt had a small train, which was embroidered with white pearls. The vine-like motif reached the half of the skirt, while the neckline was lined with white fur. Her dark hair had been neatly brushed and looked shiny and smooth. A single diamond decorated her neck, and three silver bracelets were on her left wrist. Her lips were painted light pink and her eyelids sported a blue eyeshadow.

The goddess on the right, with the golden mane, looked statuesque. Her velvet dress was dark blue, with long sleeves, a neckline that covered even her collarbones and an asymmetrical skirt, which showed a bit of the white skin of her ankles, but it left her back completely bare, only covered by her long curls. Her lips were glossy and glittery, while her golden eyes were simply outlined by a dark blue eyeliner. No jewellery except for a silver hairpin, which kept her long hair back from her face, and a necklace of diamonds around her slender neck.

And then, the goddess in the middle. Her skin was as flawless as her sisters' one, pale and perfect. She was wearing a pure white dress, with a high neck and long sleeves. The mermaid dress clung perfectly to her lush curves. It had a small train that trailed behind her hourglass figure. If you looked closely, you could see that her dress had a million ice-blue little crystals on it. The dress seemed completely white when the goddess was still, but when she moved, it sparkled like a thousand water drops. She had no jewellery, not that she needed it. Her face was painted with black and purple colours: her lips were an opaque dark purple, her eyelids were lined with black eyeliner and some black eyeshadow.

The three goddesses were beautiful.

"Bella? Are you ok?" Rosalie asked worriedly, and I tore my gaze away from the mirror.

"Those goddesses are us?" I asked in return, gaping.

The two vampires giggled. "Yup, those are us" Alice said; "We look good, don't we" Rose added. I nodded absentmindedly.

Alice opened her mouth to say something but, before she could breathe a word, her eyes glazed over. It lasted only a couple of seconds, but when she gasped in horror I knew something bad was coming.

My assumption was revealed correct by the growl that came from downstairs. Edward.

A knock at the door, and Rose flew to open it. Jasper came in, looking handsome in his black tuxedo. "What is it" he said, not really making it sound like a question. I looked at the scene like a fly on the wall would.

A second, and then—

"Two Volturi guards are coming here. They will take Bella to Volterra" Alice breathed.

Oh shit.


	4. Chapter 4

FELIX'S POV

After three days, Master Aro had finally finished his letter. Well, more accurately, three letters: one for Miss Swan, one for Carlisle Cullen and one for the entire coven. Demetri and myself were assigned to this task. Master Aro then gave us the three letters, instructed us on how to proceed and sent us on our way.

Right now I was piloting the private jet the Master had ordered us to use. It had two soundproof bedrooms, each with a bathroom attached. One of the bedrooms had been furnished with food for the human, so that she would not starve.

"How long 'till the landing?" asked Demetri.

"Twenty minutes" I answered. I then contacted the control tower and they gave confirmation for the landing.

After we landed at Seattle, we dressed in our uniforms, which we had discarded during the flight for commodity, and got out of the jet. The sun had already vanished, giving place to a moonlit night.

"A lovely night" Dem stated, looking at the sky. I nodded my agreement. "A lovely night, to catch a lovely human" he added, smirking.

I snorted. "Please! She is just human, what can she do?"

"She can block both me and the Cullen boy, that's what she can do. I bet that Master Aro will also test his power on her, and Jane's and Alec's. Imagine if she is immune! Besides, she already has gained my admiral. She had the balls to come to the Citadel—the city of her natural predators goddammit!—to save that idiot. She is courageous."

I mused over my friend's words. "Whatever. We will see when we meet her, won't we?" I smiled.

He grinned back, "Lead the way, then."

Twelve minutes later we slowed down and entered the small, insignificant town that was Forks.

No human was walking in the streets, but we walked at human speed nonetheless.

"The Cullens are all at their mansion. I suppose the human is there too" Dem stated.

"Let's go then" I replied.

We ran at human speed until we arrived at the border of the woods, then we ran at top speed, reaching the mansion in seconds. All the lights were lit and there seemed to be quite a commotion.

Before we could knock, the door opened and there stood the Doctor. Carlisle Cullen.

"Good evening, my friends," he greeted smiling, "Please, enter. Make yourselves at home. To what do we owe this visit?"

As soon as we entered, the Doctor led us to the living room. All the Cullens were reunited there, except the seer and the big guy's mate, the blonde. It was clear we were expected.

"Her name is Rosalie. And yes, you were expected" Edward answered my thoughts with disdain. I exchanged a quick glance with Demetri, before shielding my mind. It was not a proper shield, but rather an exercise we had learned a few decades ago that allows you to let someone read specific thoughts, not all of them.

Edward growled as he realised we were hiding part of our minds from him, and the Doctor's mate admonished him. "Edward! Behave!" she hissed.

She then turned to us. "It's a pleasure to have you in our home. My name is Esme, I'm Carlisle's wife and mate" she shook our outstretched hands.

"My name is Demetri, and this is Felix" Dem said.

The big guy took a step forward. He was as big as me and had a friendly smile. "Name's Emmett" he said, and shook our hands with force.

Then, a blonde guy stepped forward. My mind immediately recognised him thanks to his numerous scars. The Major. Demetri spoke before he could. "Major Jasper Whitlock, the God of War. It's an honour" he said, and bowed slightly before shaking his hand. I did the same.

"Mister Cullen we already know" I then declared, nodding my head toward Edward. And the boy simply nodded with a grunt.

"The girls will be down in a moment. They are preparing themselves," Esme said, "We were going to have a party before your arrival. Now they are changing into appropriate clothes."

"You shouldn't have bothered. May I ask if Miss Isabella Swan is here also?" I asked, even though I already knew. Her mouth-watering scent saturated the air.

"She is, why?" Emmett asked protectively.

While I sized the dude up, trying to discern if he would be a threat to our mission, Demetri spoke. "We are here on orders of the Masters. They told us to come here and give you three letters. One to Carlisle Cullen, one to the entire coven, and one to Isabella Swan."

As soon as her name left his mouth the Cullen boy started growling. His brothers put each a hand on his shoulders to hold him in place, and his so-called mother was telling him to shut the hell up. With sweeter words of course.

"May I have my letter?" the Doctor asked. I took the three missives out of a hidden pocket inside my cloak and handed him his one.

He immediately opened it and read it. His expression changed from a light smile, to a surprised one, to a calm yet mildly preoccupied one. They boy was apparently spying in his head, as he started growling again, more loudly this time.

"This decision has already been taken, and we _will not_ fight it" the blonde doctor admonished his son, which immediately spit back in a venomous tone "So you'll simply hand her to them?"

"Edward Cullen! Shut up or I'll send you to the Denalis!" Esme hissed, smacking his head. I laughed internally, _So she does have claws, the vamp mother_.

"They can't decide for her!" he yelled back, ignoring his mother's words.

"And neither can you!" a melodious, fierce voice snapped back.

We all turned to find three stunning women on the stairs. They were positioned in such a manner that it looked like they were posing for a portrait. The smaller one, with short hair—_the seer_—stood on the lowest step, dressed in a pink dress that reached her knees. Beside her stood Rosalie, the blonde one, with a dark red jumpsuit. She was eyeing me and Demetri attentively, while keeping a hand on the shoulder of the third woman, who stood on the step immediately higher the one the two vampires were standing on. She was wearing a white shirt, tucked inside tight, high-waist maroon jeans. Her skin was as pale as a vampire's, except for the lightest blush on her cheeks. Her eyes were also different: dark brown with golden and russet speckles in them. Her scent was the most delicious and enticing smell I had ever come across in my long existence.

The human woman was glaring at Edward as the blond one spoke. "Who are out guests?" Rosalie asked. I stepped forward with Demetri. "I am Felix, and this is Demetri. We are here on a mission. We must deliver these letters to you and Miss Isabella."

"Bella" the three women corrected at the same time. Then the human stepped forward, surpassing her friends. The two vampires remained close to her side, tho.

"Which one is my letter?" the human asked, stopping in front of me and nodding her chin toward the paper I held in my hands.

I was speechless. She was standing and talking to a human-drinking vampire, three times bigger than her and she was _not_ afraid. Not a whiff of fear in her scent or even an accelerated heartbeat.

I could see that Dem was surprised too, and the Major was lightly smirking at our surprise.

I turned back toward the human—_Bella_, a fitting name for her—and handed her the letter with her name written on it. She grabbed it and went to sit on the couch, and was instantly flanked by the seer and Rosalie, as well as Emmett and the Major. The others stared at her, trying to interpret her expressions as she read the contents of the letter.

After a few minutes, her gaze raised and she scanned me and Demetri. Without a word, she sighed and stood up. Her female companions followed suit.

"When do we leave?" Bella then asked. The Cullen boy gasped in horror. She completely ignored him and kept staring at us, right into our red orbs.

I laughed inwardly. _Yes, this woman had balls_.


	5. Chapter 5

BELLA'S POV

The Volturi? _Here_? Not good, not good.

My heart started beating like crazy and a forceful knock shook the door of the bedroom. "Enter" Rose called. I expected it to be Edward, instead I found myself enveloped in Jasper's arms. I could feel the waves of calmness he was sending me and I welcomed them greedily, needing them to keep me from freaking out.

"Edward went out to hunt before they arrive. He said we have half an hour?" I heard Emmett say, and looking up I saw that he, too, stood in the room. He was hugging Rosalie while speaking with Alice.

Alice nodded. "He will come back in time, don't worry. Now, I need you to remove all the decorations and change into more comfy, simple clothes. Go!" she commanded, and the two males left immediately.

Rose came at my side and quickly removed my dress. I helped her and stepped out of my shoes, finding myself naked, only wearing my panties. She handed me two tissues to clean my make-up with while she and Alice stripped also.

I wiped my face up and removed most of my make-up. Alice, having finished her change of clothes, helped me, removing every trace of cosmetics from my face. Rose handed me a pair of maroon high-waist jeans, a bra and a white shirt. "Put them on" she ordered, and I obliged quickly.

"Ten minutes!" Alice yelled, even though the entire house could hear her just fine.

"All is ready here!" Em called back, and she ordered him and Jasper to come here. She let them enter only after I had fully clothed myself. The two Cullens entered and stood, waiting for new instructions. We were all surprised when she pulled them close to her and started speaking too low and too fast for me to hear.

I felt uneasy about being left out, because that meant something was up, but I had no time to bother with it as Rose came out of her bathroom wearing a red jumpsuit, only a shade lighter than my own maroon jeans.

She dived into the conversation, and I could not hear a thing even while she was speaking while braiding my hair in a tress that she left draping over my right shoulder.

"Anyone cares to enlighten me?" I snapped, after being ignored for a full minute more.

Alice ushered the boys out, telling them something else. I only caught the name 'Edward'. "Sorry, Bells. Not now. Later, I promise. For now, you need to know that two Volturi guards will arrive. They will give you a letter, you will have to read it, without letting Edward see it. It's important. Then be cool about what they ask you to do. Do not panic or something. Then, when they will ask—you'll know when—tell them my name and Rosalie's."

I nodded grimly, not pleased about being in the dark, even if it was partially.

"Edward is coming. Occupy your mind with other thoughts, do not let him know about what we talked about" she then ordered Rose. The blonde vampire nodded her head. Not more than two seconds later we heard a door slamming open and then close.

Alice ran at vampire speed downstairs. She barked something at Edward and came back in less than thirty seconds.

"Ready yourselves. You'll open the door Carlisle. We have forty-five seconds!" she said.

I started fidgeting with my hands, and I felt the waves of Jazz's power calming me. I muttered a soft 'thanks'. The only reply I got was an intensifying of the waves. Usually I preferred to deal with my emotions myself, but right now I needed his help or else I would have fainted.

A while later the Carlisle opened the door. My two friends sat beside me and listened to the conversation, which was too low for my ears. I was truly pissed now. _Hello? Human with lower hearing here!_ Jasper's power kept me from growling in anger.

A few minutes later Alice stood up, dusting off some invisible dust from her pink dress. She nodded at me and Rose and we got up, also.

Opening the door, we walked to the stairs and I heard Edward yelling "They can't decide for her!"

I immediately understood that, while he was saying that, he wanted to make the choice I was, apparently, supposed to make himself. My temper flared, now no longer controlled by Jasper.

I hissed back "And neither can you!"

All eyes were on us in an instant. I looked at Edward, whose eyes were black with fury, glaring at him. He stared right back. Ha. _Buddy if it's a staring contest you want, a staring contest you'll get_. We stayed like this for a minute before he turned his eyes away from my burning gaze.

My eyes then flitted over my family, acknowledging my brothers' light smirk—seemingly having noticed my staring contest with Edward—and then I looked at the strangers in black.

My gaze fixated on them. They, too, were analysing us. The two guards both wore dark grey, almost black in shade, cloaks. Their hoods were down, so we could all see their bright red eyes. The one on the left was tall and sleek, yet muscular, with black hair that grazed his shoulders. He had the typical paleness of vampires and the physical charms. His companion was _enormous_. He was taller than his fellow guard, taller than even Emmett. He had to be at least 6'5'' feet, with huge muscles ready to rip humans and vampires to shreds. _I guess steroids were used even during ancient times_, I thought. His hair were also black, but shorter.

Rosalie spoke before anyone else. "Who are our guests?" she asked, her tone colourless. The big vamp stepped forward and said "I am Felix, and this is Demetri. We are here on a mission. We must deliver these letters to you and Miss Isabella."

Yep. That I already knew. _Thanks Alice!_

"Bella" Rose, Alice and myself corrected at the same time. Only a wave of seriousness from Jasper kept us from giggling like idiots. I quietly sent back a feeling of gratitude, without looking at him.

I took a few steps forward, with my sisters still flanking me, and, steeling myself, I stood before the vampire hulk. I nodded my head to the letters he held in his huge hands. "Which one is my letter?" I asked nonchalantly. I was not going to show any fear to these people.

The two guards seemed surprised—and Jasper, who was not tampering my emotions, smirked at their surprise—but the enormous one recovered fast and handed me my letter. I went to sit at the couch and was immediately surrounded by my brothers and sisters. Carlisle and Esme still stood, ever the perfect hosts. Edward I didn't care about, not now.

I opened the letter, and I vaguely noticed how everyone's eyes went to my face, reading my expressions, but not the letter. Alice's doing, of course. If Edward couldn't be allowed to see the letter from my hands, he couldn't from others' thoughts, too.

What I found inside surprised me.

"_Dear Isabella,_

_I am happy that you are well, after having heard of your supposed demise from your beloved Edward. _

_I am also very glad I did not get a reason to kill young Edward, and I thank you for this. I heard from my guards you stopped him yourself. Very brave._

_I write you this missive hoping that you would join me and my brothers here in Volterra for a little vacation. I'd be delighted to meet you and enjoy your company, as would my brothers and coven._

_If you decide to humour me and come stay with us for a while, I promise that no harm will come to you. You have my word._

_I hope to meet you soon, my dear._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Aro Volturi._"

Right. Yes. A vacation in the Citadel. Sure.

I remembered Alice's words and refrained myself from fainting. _Be cool. Be cool. Be cool_.

I stood up—my legs were surprisingly _not_ shaking—and I stared at the two human-drinkers right in the eye. Rose and Alice stood with me.

"When do we leave?" I then asked, and the surprise on the faces of Demetri and Felix wasn't masked this time. I vaguely heard Edward gasp, but I ignored him. I kept staring at the two males, not backing down.

After a minute—vampires and their staring contests—Demetri answered me. "We leave in three hours" he said. I nodded.

Then Alice asked them, "And the third letter?"

"It is for the entire coven as a whole" Felix said, handing it to Carlisle.

He opened it in a smooth motion and read the contents quickly then said, "Here briefly says what I believe is told in Bella's letter. She will be welcome for a while in Volterra. Then it says you can bring two people with you, if it makes you feel more comfortable" the last bit was directed at me.

Before I could say Alice and Rose's names, as I knew to do, Edward stood up and dusted off his blue pants. "I'll go with her. No one else" he said. The others glared at him and I growled. Actually _growled_! Shit, all this time with vampires and I'm starting to act like them.

"As I said before, you cannot make my decisions in my place" I hissed at him, and my family backed me up with affirmative nods.

He huffed, still thinking he had the upper hand here. "She's my mate, I get to—"

"Nope. You get to do nothing in my place, Edward. Are we clear?" I asked, fuming. Before he could retort I turned to Demetri and Felix, who were eyeing me with appreciation and admiral, and told them "Rose and Alice will come with me."

They nodded, letting us know where we had to meet them in three hours. They left after that.

Completely ignoring Edward, I turned to Rose and Alice. "What's next?" I asked.

"Packing" Rosalie giggled, and I cackled with her, too.

"I know we have to pack, Rose. I meant, what do we do with Charlie? And school? Alice, any ideas?"

"We'll tell him you got accepted into an exclusive abroad program with me and Rose in Italy. She will pretend to have already been accepted the year before and so she will be our senior there."

"All right, but how can I simply abandon high school and go off to Italy?"

"Well, while we were changing I ordered a few things that will help us" she winked. As if on cue Jasper—who I hadn't noticed had vanished—walked through the door and, standing proudly, said in a voice that sounded so like our principal's, "Isabella Marie Swan, I hereby declare you free of High School!"

We all laughed (well, except Edward who was fuming in the corner, but who cared), then I realised what he was giving me. I gaped at the document. My _fricking_ _diploma_. "What the hell?" I breathed.

Emmett pulled me into a massive bear hug and laughed. "We pulled you out early!" he shouted in my ear.

"How?" I asked, without the presence of mind to say anything else.

"Your good grades and a fair amount of cash" said Jasper, wiggling his eyebrows. We laughed again.

"Well, now we need to go. We must pack our things and go tell Charlie. Say goodbye to everyone now, Bells, because we won't have time for that later" Rose declared. I nodded I quickly hugged Esme and Carlisle, kissed Emmett's smooth cheek and squeezed Jasper.

They wished me good luck and pleaded me to stay safe. I waved at them, still ignoring Edward (as was everyone else) and got into my truck and drove home.

I entered, holding my diploma in my hands and squealing. Charlie ran up to me, eyes darting everywhere to spot a possible reason for my joy. When they found my diploma he grinned and picked me up in his arms. He twirled me around like he hadn't done in over ten years. I told him about how my excellent grades led up to this early conclusion of high school, and the abroad program. He wasn't convinced, but when Alice and Rose arrived, adding a dose of charm to my speech, he was done. He congratulated me, and then throttled me when I told him I had to leave in less than three hours.

He demanded to know why I hadn't told him before, and I quickly invented an excuse. After some more talking I went up in my room to find everything already packed by Alice and Rose, their luggage placed beside mine on the floor.

"Thanks girls" I said and they smirked at me.

"Let's go, there's no time to lose!" Alice exclaimed, and Charlie, who had heard her, agreed wholeheartedly. We grabbed our luggage and went downstairs. Charlie asked if we wanted a lift to the airport, but we thanked him and told him we would go on our own. A cab was waiting outside, and in what felt like seconds we were at the airport.

Italy here we come!


	6. Chapter 6

FELIX'S POV

As we requested, Bella, Alice and Rosalie arrived at the airport five minutes before the three hours ran out. They walked into the hangar where our private jet was resting and marched toward us.

I lifted a brow and shared a look with Demetri. Wanna know why? The pixie-like one was silently fuming, while the other two were spewing obscenities, cursing a poor cab driver who apparently was too slow for their liking.

"Ladies" Demetri greeted as they came to an halt before us.

"Gentlemen" the seer replied, "Shall we depart?"

"Of course" I said, affable as always, "Demetri will lead you on the plane while I take care of your luggage."

"Thank you" the blonde said. The tiny human was still frowning, but she thanked me gently when I grabbed her bags. I nodded back to her and she boarded the jet.

I quickly took care of the luggage—how many things had the damn pixie brought with her?—and boarded the jet myself as Demetri was explaining the three women the various characteristics of the suites.

The human spoke up and said, "We'll take the suite with food in it. Thank you."

"Will you stay all in the same rooms?" I asked. Her marvellous eyes found mine and I was surprised again when she didn't flinch. She nodded wordlessly.

"Then please follow me. Felix will pilot the jet and—"

"You know how to pilot a jet?" Bella interrupted him, and my surprise multiplied. She had just interrupted a vampire while speaking, as if she wasn't talking with one of the most lethal creatures on this planet, and addressed me as she would address a friend.

"Indeed I do" I told her, masking my shock well. I could feel that Demetri was stunned also, as he led the ladies to their suite. I went to sit in the cockpit and readied the jet for our take-off.

After the door opened and then closed, Demetri flashed to my side. He sat in the other chair next to mine, careful not to touch anything.

"That girl is something else" he muttered after a while.

"You can say that again" I replied smirking.

He was still gaping. "She has no fear, no awkwardness, no uneasiness towards our kind."

"I know. Did you notice she didn't look away at the house, when she met our stares?"

"Yes! Holy shit that was the last thing I would have expected her to do" he told me.

"I know. Plus she is so tiny, you wouldn't expect it" I said, while manoeuvring the jet and positioning it in the right position for the flight.

"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed, and then sat musing while we took off.

He didn't speak again until we were stable in the air. "She is very pretty" he muttered.

I chuckled. "Already in love?" I teased him, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.

He shoved my shoulder hard and I barked a laugh. "Alright, alright! I'll stop. Anyway, yes I agree. She's beautiful. Did you see the colour of her eyes, dude?" I asked him.

"Yeah! They are unique. I have never seen eyes like hers. Brown, golden, red… I even spotted a bit of platinum. How the fuck can a human have eyes like hers?" he asked, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"Shit if I know. But she has this kind of aura that pulls you in, if you know what I mean" I said.

He nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. She's not like Heidi, tho. Heidi uses a power, Bella does not."

"I think it's a natural thing of hers" I mused.

He smirked, "I think this might be one of the few cases where the vampire admires the human, and not the contrary."

I laughed with him. "I have the feeling she is one worth admiring. I think we will see that a warrior lives in her tiny body."

"She really is tiny, isn't she?" he smiled.

"Yeah, she is so tiny, fragile. But then she speaks and the bomb drops!" I laughed at the image I had created.

"Well, you can tell she is feisty even by looking in her eyes. Apart from the colour, they sometimes seem to swirl like fire. Like when she was staring at Cullen" he said.

I grinned evilly, remembering the look she gave him and how she ignored him. "Seems like his lover is no longer such" I told him.

His grin matched mine, "I think so too. Just as I think that he is delusional enough to think that she still wants him."

"Really?"

"Yes. To be honest, I think also Isabella still hasn't figured out it yet. I think she is confused" he told me.

"When did you become so insightful, dude?" I joked, even though I agreed with him.

He growled, smacking my head with his hand. "Stop being a jackass. It's just a feeling…" he left the sentence open like that, his eyes wondering.

"What?" I asked, curious.

"Is it just me or is she charming us?" he laughed.

I froze. Damn, he was right. I exploded into a boisterous laugh. "She is, Dem, she is."

"How is that I don't mind? _We_ don't mind?"

"Because we trust our gut feeling that tells us she is worthy" I answered simply.

He nodded, and then we were silent.

A few seconds later, we heard steps coming in our direction. Three seconds later, the blonde vampire—Rosalie, the big dude's mate—appeared in the cockpit.

"How long till we land?" she asked, her voice apathetic.

"About ten hours. We will land at Firenze's airport, there a car will be waiting for us and drive us to Volterra" I answered her. She nodded and left us.

We waited until we heard the door close to speak again.

"I can't wait to see what those three will do in Volterra. I can already tell our lives will be more ecstatic with them around" Dem said, relaxing in his seat, "Let's just hope Caius doesn't kill Bella. It would be a pity" he then said.

I smirked. "100 bucks that he will love her also. Not immediately, maybe, but eventually. With what Aro is planning for them!" I told him.

"Yeah, Master Aro is so enthusiastic about the celebrations he came up with for them. But, nonetheless, prepare to lose, bitch" he grinned right back.

"We'll see" I winked, and turned my eyes to the sky before me.

I relaxed in my seat. 10 hours and the games will begin.


	7. Chapter 7

BELLA'S POV

As soon as the door was closed I looked around and admired the suite. It was elegantly furnished: the room we were in at the moment was the bedroom, big and dominated by a massive king-sized bed and a spacious wardrobe. The parquet was of light wood and the walls were white, but the room had colour thanks to the red silk sheets and the various paintings on the walls. In a corner there were two black leather sofas.

On the wall opposite to the wardrobe there were two doors: one led to a beautiful grey marble bathroom, the other to a small kitchen.

Why vampires would need a kitchen I did not know.

"Seems nice" I whispered, not sure if what Demetri said about the soundproof walls was true.

Rose nodded and placed her enormous Louis Vuitton bag on the bed. Alice said, "No need to whisper, the room is really soundproof."

I nodded and threw myself on the bed, bouncing slightly. The girls joined me. "So," I started, "Care to explain this shit or what?"

They both laughed and sat up. I raised my head and looked at them. Alice went to sit on one of the sofas, while Rose remained seated beside me on the bed. "Well?" I urged.

Alice sighed. "Alright. Here goes nothing. We are going to Volterra" she said.

I blinked. "Thanks, Sherlock. I already knew that" I mocked.

"But you don't know why we are going" Rose said, stroking my hair.

"That's why I'm asking."

"Before I tell you that, let me clarify one fundamental thing. I know it will be difficult to digest, but it's true, believe me" Alice told me, looking at me sternly.

My heart started to beat faster. "What is it?" I breathed. I steeled myself for the bomb she was about to drop.

She took an unnecessary breath. _Bomb in 3-2-1_… "Edward isn't your mate."

_What? Edward isn't my—What?! How?!_

"Bells?" Rose called me uncertainly. I realised I had been silent for many minutes.

"Yeah" I said. "You okay?" she asked worriedly.

"He told me I was his mate." My voice was void of emotion.

"He did. But you are not, Bella" Alice said.

"So he lied."

"Not exactly. It's true he isn't your mate, but he mistook the call of your blood for the mating pull" she explained.

I blinked, confused, and Rose smirked before saying, "Where did we lose you?"

"What call? And what mating pull?" I asked.

"The call of your blood. I believe he told you your blood is his favourite kind of drug, or something like that, right?" Rose inquired. I nodded my agreement.

"Well, you are Edward's singer. A singer is someone whose blood is extremely attractive to a certain vampire, so much that you might be the first singer _ever_ to survive an encounter with the vampire your blood calls to" Alice said, "So, Edward resisted your blood. He felt _something_ attracting him to you, and you were attracted to him, as any normal human is. Though, thanks to your strange, silent mind, he couldn't know what you thought of him. Because of his curiosity, he became more and more involved with you and you with him—and us, and eventually you both fell in love, and Edward recognized the 'bond' you two shared."

"But you said—"

"It's not the mating bond" Rose stated firmly.

Every word was demolishing what I knew, but I was thirsty for the truth. Even if I would come out of this in pieces.

Rosalie sighed. "He mistook the pull of your blood for the mating pull. But they are two very different things" she said, squeezing my hand.

"So… we are not mates?"

"No, but you'll still be a vampire and mated" Alice said, smiling for the first time.

I furrowed my brow. "What? How?"

"Now we are with you to find out just that" Rose assure me, "We'll be with you the whole way, sis."

Alice smiled encouragingly, nodding at her words.

"Wait, you mean that my mate lives in Volterra?" I asked, disbelieving.

Alice sighed. "Truthfully, I have no idea. I see you, as a vampire, happy and laughing with a male vampire—not Edward—but I cannot see who."

I was flabbergasted. "Does the family know?"

"We told Emmett and Jasper just before the arrival of the Volturi. In the room, remember?" Rose said.

I nodded, remembering the conversation I had not heard. Then something came to me. "But, wouldn't the other have heard, also?"

"No, our voices were too low. And I told them to busy their minds so that Eddie couldn't hear. He couldn't know of my vision, nor about the letter, in advance, or you would have… died."

My jaw slammed on the floor. "What?!" I shouted. "Dead? He would have killed me?! Bastard!"

"Bells, calm down. I don't know if he would have been the one to kill you. I just saw you dead. And I'd be damned if I let that happen" Alice declared firmly. "Now, though, this possibility is gone. It's no longer possible."

I sighed in relief. "Thank God."

I attempted a smile, but in reality I was still shook. All these revelations tired me out. Rosalie suspected as much, and said "Rest, Bella. We'll be here. I'll go ask the guards how long is the flight and I'll be back" she kissed my head, "In my bag there is a blue pajamas, you can use that."

She slipped out the door quickly. Alice rose and came to help me. In a matter of seconds I was changed in comfy blue shorts and camisole, my hair brushed and silky. Rose came back just as I was covering my body with the sheets.

She smiled, "The flight will take 10 hours. When should we wake you?"

"Wake me up two hours before our arrival, please" I told her, tiredly. It was already past the time when I usually went to bed, and I was really in need of a good sleep.

"Alright. Now sleep, sister. We are with you" she said.

Her words comforted me. As soon as my head touched the pillow sleep claimed me.

I dreamt nothing. Only the starry sky, with many constellations and beautiful nebulae. It gave me a strange sort of peace.

Sometime later I was woken by a voice talking on the phone.

I yawned, and immediately a hand came on my head. Rosalie. "You are one hour early" she joked.

Alice hung up and looked at me apologetically. "Sorry I woke you!" she said.

"Don't worry, I don't mind. More time for you to answer my questions" I smirked and the girls groaned.

"You are an endless source of questions, you know that?" Rose complained.

I giggled, "Yeah, yeah. Now give me a human moment and I'll be back" I said, and went to fetch my bag. I grabbed it and went in the bathroom. The immaculate marble was so clean that it reflected my image. After I finished my business I went back in the bedroom and found a fresh fruit salad awaiting me.

"Thought you might want to eat something" Alice winked. I thanked her and quickly devoured my food.

Before one of them could further distract me from my questions, I spoke up. "So, who will tell the family about me and Edward?" I asked.

"So… it's fine for you?" Rose asked hesitantly.

I simply shrugged. "Yeah. I think I already knew, anyway. After all, he left me. Mates cannot do that. And I was starting to move one before the whole _Volterra_ _situation_. So yeah, it's fine. I would still like to be a part of the family, if you would have me" I quickly added.

Both women smiled brightly, "Absolutely! You are our sister, regardless of who you make out with" Rose grinned.

I snorted, "God, Rose. Here I thought you were being serious for a moment."

Her only response was a wider grin.

"So? Does the family know?" I pressed. Alice nodded, "Jazz and Emmett already knew before our departure. I instructed Jasper to take Edward hunting after you left, and Emmett was to tell Esme and Carlisle. He did while you were sleeping. I was talking with Carlisle when you woke up."

"And Edward?" I asked, half afraid of what the answer could possibly be.

"Edward will be told in six hour, when he will come back from the hunting trip. The family will handle him. He won't bother us, I hope" Rose said.

I nodded. "On to the next question then. So, what is the plan? What will we do in Volterra?" I asked.

"Aro organized several balls" Alice replied, and I groaned in horror.

"What?! And why is 'ball' plural?" I asked disbelieving. Oh God, no.

Rose burst out laughing, "Because we'll stay in Volterra for about five weeks, and participate in five different balls."

"Oh God. Oh shit, no" I groaned.

Alice smirked evilly. "Be happy, the look for the first ball is already decided and ready" she said, wiggling her delicate eyebrows.

I lifted mine in response and she laughed. "Winter ball" she simply said, and I realised.

"The dresses we were wearing at home!" I gasped, and they both nodded.

"It was kind of planned. I did not know that we would have used them during a ball in Volterra, but I knew the dresses would have been useful" Alice explained.

"You two are impossible" I grumbled.

They both nodded in playful agreement.

"Any more questions?" Rose inquired.

"No, I wouldn't want to discover any more shit" I mumbled in return. Alice stuck out her tongue. She then clapped her hands. "Very well. Now that Bella has finished with her endless questions, we can start preparing ourselves. I packed in my bag the outfits for the encounter with the Kings. Shall we prepare?"

"If we really must" me and Rosalie replied at the same time, and giggled. Alice glared at us, but then took out the clothes. They were all black.

"For me, a long dress with a halter neckline, and black Louboutin stilettos. For Rosalie, a black Chanel jumpsuit with see-through details, and leather ankle-length boots. For Bella, a black sleeveless bodysuit, skin-tight black high-waist pants, a black floor-length, long-sleeved cardigan and over-the-knee black Prada boots" as she spoke, she took out every piece.

I gaped at her. "Did you steal the bag from Mary Poppins or what?"

She laughed. "And you still haven't seen the accessories!"

At that, both me and Rosalie rolled our eyes.

"Let's get changed! We have two hours!" Rose then said.

Normally I could have donned those clothes in half an hour, but they insisted on accessories and fixing my hair. I completely refused any form of make-up, tho.

"Well, whatever" Alice sighed, when I refused for the seventh time, "You don't need it."

"If I don't need it why do you insist on it!" I accused, and she simply shrugged.

Sometime later, I was dressed impeccably—I even tried walking in heels and found myself mildly comfortable in those shoes—and my hair were perfectly brushed and they draped over my back, reaching my waist. Rose's hair were braided and Alice's had a messy look that suited her pixie-like form. In solidarity, they hadn't put on make-up either.

"Now, the accessories!" Alice clapped her hands excitedly.

From where I don't know, but she pulled out three pairs of Dolce&Gabbana sunglasses, each of them with a black frame and mirrored, and handed to me and Rosalie ours. She had chosen for herself a pair with golden lenses, for Rose silver lenses and for me black lenses. Then she handed Rosalie a silk scarf—obviously black—that she draped over the generous neckline to cover her bare skin. She also handed her a black velvet hat.

"Why do I have to wear this, too? I don't sparkle!" I complained, when she handed me a black sun hat. She had chosen for herself a black crochet hat.

"Because we look hot as hell dressed like this!" Rose laughed and Alice joined.

"We look good, I get it, but—" I started, but Alice interrupted me. "Yes! We look good, no buts! That's what matters!" she lightly smacked my cheek.

I grumbled something unintelligible and went to sit on the bed while Rose put back in the bag our previous outfits. Before I could touch the mattress, though, a knock resonated in the room and Felix's voice called through the door. "Ladies, Demetri will land in a few minutes. Get comfortable. We have arranged for a limo that will get us to Volterra. Please remember that here is day, so mind your clothes. We will wait for you in the limo. Demetri and I will be seated in the front. You'll be divided from us, so if you need to speak privately you can, since everything is soundproof. Enjoy the landing" he said, after Alice had opened the door barely a millimetre.

"Did he see our clothes?" Rosalie asked worriedly when Alice had closed the door again.

She shook her head, and Rose sighed in relief. "Oh God, are you kidding me? We're not here to dress to impress, girls" I admonished.

"We are here to find your mate, but also to dress to impress!" Alice said, before sticking out her tongue.

A minute later, we felt the jet land.

Here we are Italy!

* * *

**A/N Thanks! My story hit 2210 views! Please, if you feel like it, review!**


	8. Chapter 8

FELIX'S POV

Demetri took my place at the head of the jet as I went to inform the ladies of our arrival. The landing was the only thing he could manage when it came to piloting a plane, and I was happy to let him have his moment.

After I informed Bella, Rosalie and Alice of our imminent landing, I went back to the cockpit. "I'll do a quick call and see if the limo is already waiting for us" I told my companion.

"Alright, my brother" he replied.

I composed Santiago's number and waited. After two rings he answered,_ "Good to hear from you, Felix. What is it?"_ he asked.

"Same, dude. You already at the airport?"

"_Yeah. I am waiting in the hangar. What about little Swan?"_ he inquired, using the name us guards used to refer to Bella.

"She's here, with Alice—the seer—and another female, Rosalie. She's the one mated to the big guy, Emmett" I explained.

"_Good. I'll run back to the palace and inform Aro. I'll leave the keys on the driver's seat. See you, bro."_

"Okay, thanks. See you later" I said, and hung up.

"Landing in thirty seconds" Dem announced.

I sat in the co-pilot's seat and waited. Soon enough, the jet landed, and Demetri skilfully parked it in the hangar, far from sunlight.

"Should we call the ladies?" Dem asked, but I shook my head. "I already did. Told 'em we would have waited for them in the limo. Help me with the luggage and let's hope they are not slow as the animals they drink" I smirked.

"Bella doesn't drink animals."

"I know, moron. I was teasing, geez" I rolled my eyes.

We quickly transferred the luggage from the plane to the limo and went to sat in the front places in the vehicle as the girls appeared.

I managed to see only a pair of black stilettos before I lost sight of them. "They changed" I told my brother, and he snorted "Again?"

"What can I tell you? Must be a thing of theirs" I replied shrugging.

"Maybe they dress to impress" he smirked, elbowing me while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Surely not to impress you, you idiot" I teased. He glared and growled at me.

"Maybe I'll try the human. To discover if her body is as heavenly as her smell" he mused, with an evil grin.

It was my turn to glare and growl. "Abso-fucking-lutely not. She's off limits dude. Do not play with fire" I threatened him, before returning to my senses.

_What the hell? What has gotten into me?_

I shook my head, and Dem laughed. "Dude I was kidding, I know she's off limits. We need the clear out from Aro, first."

That wasn't what I was thinking but I nodded nonetheless. I actually had no idea what I was thinking, but okay.

I heard the door of the limo open and then close after a few seconds. One of the ladies knocked on the divider and Dem knocked back before starting the engine. We wordlessly started the drive to Volterra. The silence was heavy but not uncomfortable.

After what felt like mere minutes—but in reality were a few hours—we spotted the castle and the city looming ahead of us. Demetri drove over the small street that conduced to our home. He drove slower than usual to let our guests admire the view. Not only the city was beautiful, but the landscape also. The hills and sky were equally breath-taking.

We crossed the Etruscan walls that still encircled the city and dived in the heart of our home. Building flitted out the windows and the sun was high in the sky as we reached our destination. We parked the limo in a secondary street. One of the lower guards would have retrieved it and moved it in the Volturi's underground garage.

I knocked again on the divider and it lowered half an inch. Bella's scent immediately invaded the air. I swallowed the venom that had pooled in my mouth and I spoke in my _guard voice_, cold and detached. "You are to come at Piazza dei Priori and go inside the Palazzo dei Priori. It's a walk of few minutes from here. Miss Swan knows where. There, a secretary named Gianna will guide you to us. We need to leave and report now, but I hope my indications will suffice."

"They will" the seer replied in a voice similar my own.

"Good. Be careful of the sun" I admonished them before covering my head with the hood of my cloak and slitting out the limo. We walked at human pace until we reached a secluded, dark alley, then we ran to the palace at top speed, unseen and unheard by any human.

We reached the castle in seconds and were immediately received by our Masters. Aro and Caius looked excited and annoyed, respectively, while Marcus looked bored as always until we stepped inside the throne room. Immediately he perked up and studied us with a gaze so piercing I was intimidated. Why was Marcus looking at me that way? And, more importantly, why was Master Marcus showing _any emotion_?

I had no time to muse over this, because Aro immediately flitted to us and took our hands. After a second or so, he sighed.

"Che creatura meravigliosa" he murmured, almost to himself. 'What a beautiful creature' in Italian. I assumed he must me talking about Miss Swan.

Aro, who still held my hand, chuckled lightly at my assumption. "Indeed I am talking about her, dear one" he answered my inner musing. I could do nothing but nod.

He released our hands and stepped back to sit on his throne. "It seems our sweet Isabella is very beautiful, and possesses the spirit of a warrior inside her tiny body. I am delighted she accepted our invite."

As if she had any choice.

"How is she?" Marcus asked, and we all stared at him, bewildered.

If I recalled correctly, he had not spoken in the presence of another individual since WWII. And here he was, asking _me and Dem_ a question.

I scrambled to get out a convincing response. But before either I or Demetri could utter a word, heeled steps resonated outside the throne room's doors.

Caius smirked. "I suppose we are about to find out" he said, seating himself more firmly on his throne.

HOLY SHIT! DID MARCUS JUST SMILE?!

_Knock, knock._

"Please, Gianna, let our esteemed guests enter" Aro told our human secretary jovially.

The doors opened, and immediately I could feel every male—and even some female—vampires drool at the sight of the three women that entered the throne room, especially the human. And not drooling because of the delicious scent that invaded the room. Goddamnit.

Only two words could have described them—_her_.

_Smokin'. Hot._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: in my fanfiction shapeshifters do not exist!**

* * *

BELLA'S POV

After Felix told us where to go we waited for them to vanish before stepping out the limo. We were entirely covered in black clothing, so that the light didn't make my sisters' skin sparkle—even though I wasn't sure why I was also covered since my skin didn't sparkle, but anyway.

We stepped out the limo and I tasted the air of Volterra. It was clear and warm, it smelled like wheat and sunshine. The buildings surrounding us were old and beautiful. They gave the city an air of antiquity that fit the place.

"Felix said you knew where to meet the secretary. Where is it?" Alice asked, and I noticed she had put on a black shawl and leather gloves to cover herself.

"Palazzo dei Priori" I replied, "It's this way" I added, after having recognized one restaurant I passed while running to save Edward—_he who was not my mate_, I thought grimly. I still hadn't figured out if I was relieved or sad about this revelation: relieved, because I realised he was becoming a little bit too controlling and overbearing and that was unacceptable; sad, because he was my first love and I had believed him to be the right one.

Another hint that he wasn't actually my mate was the fact that I had took the revelation fairly nicely. Yes, I had been astonished and I didn't immediately recognized the truth in the statement, but I wasn't certainly depressed like the time when he left me. I was feeling good, actually.

I led the way and, all the while admiring the beautiful city, we reached the Piazza dei Priori. It was just as I remembered it, only without all the red-cloaked people.

We reached the looming building where the secretary was supposed to meet us. After waiting a couple more minutes—and attracting the gaping stares of any passer-by—we decided to go inside.

"I'm tired of waiting! Let's simply go inside!" Rosalie exclaimed, fuming, before marching inside the building.

We quickly followed her, and soon enough we found her standing in front of a human woman. She looked to be in her thirties and had long blonde hair and green eyes. She must be the secretary.

The fact that she didn't flinch at the death-glare Rose shot her made me wonder what type of company we would endure during our stay.

"Greetings. My name is Gianna and I'm the secretary" she bowed her head. She spoke with thick Italian accent.

"We were told that you will accompany us to your masters" Alice said, and her voice was surprisingly icy.

The woman nodded, scanning us from head to toe. Before she could utter a word Rosalie growled. "Done staring?" she hissed at the woman, who blanched under her tan complexion.

"I apologize. Yes, we may go to the Masters now, if you agree?" she asked, not looking at any of us.

"Yes. Shall we?" I said, using the same tone as my friends. They both smirked lightly at that.

Gianna nodded and started walking. She led us to a corridor that had no doors, or so I thought. She looked around for a second before using her hands to press two bricks simultaneously. At that point, the wall where she had pressed her hands slid back a couple of inched, before sliding to the right, inside the other wall.

"This is the passage we use in case of emergencies. Otherwise there are other ways to commute. The guards will tell you about those" Gianna explained while she walked.

Here the temperature was a grade or two cooler, but not enough to be unpleasant. We reached an elevator and we walked inside. Gianna punched a code in and we started out descend. Two floors later the elevator stopped and opened on a pretty waiting room.

Surprisingly there was light flittering through windows—I thought we would be underground but apparently it wasn't so. The light illuminated the area. The walls were panelled in light wood, the floor was carpeted in deep red. The piece of furniture that caught my interest was a painting of the Tuscan countryside. In the middle of the room there was a mahogany counter.

"Please, follow me" Gianna urged us toward a set of double doors in the back of the room. We did as told, not speaking or nodding whatsoever.

We stopped a feet behind her as she knocked on the wood. A joyous voice urged her to let us enter. Immediately she opened the doors and stepped aside to let us walk ahead of her.

We were met by gaping faces. Like, they were literally drooling at the sight of us—or rather, Alice and Rose, because there was no way they would be drooling over me, also. Several men, and even some women, were staring, mouth agape.

My eyes scanned briefly the massive circular room and landed on the three figures before me. They looked the same as they did in the painting in Carlisle's study. The one on the left was smiling faintly and had long brown hair that reached his shoulders. The one on the right was slightly frowning, but his stare wasn't too hostile; he had white blond hair slightly shorter than his brown haired companion. The one in the middle had long black hair and looked like the leader of the trio. All of them had red eyes and pale skin.

The one in the middle giggled. I repeat, _giggled_.

I forced my face to remain neutral. As Alice had asked us to do earlier, we had put back on the sunglasses when we were in the elevator. She had asked me and Rose to remove them only in the throne room. I had no idea about the reason, but I agreed nonetheless.

I reached up to remove my sunglasses at the same time they did. Rose hung them on her neckline, Alice held them in her hands, I put them over my hat.

"Ah! Hello, my dear ones! It's a pleasure to have you here!" the black haired one exclaimed, smiling jovially. "My name is Aro, and my brothers are Marcus" he pointed to the one on the left, "and Caius" he pointed to the blonde one. "I'm so happy you accepted my offer, young one" he said, smiling at me.

_Not that I had much choice_…

"Greetings, Aro. It's nice to meet you and your brothers. I was surprised but happy at your invitation. I could not pass on this occasion" I replied politely, slightly bowing my head.

He laughed. "It's nice to meet you, too, young Isabella. Or Bella, as I heard you prefer being called."

At that I furrowed my brows. How could he know?

Sensing my discomfort, as well as my sisters', he quickly explained. "I have the gift of tactile telepathy. By touching someone I can see every one of their thoughts since the birth."

"Wow, seems intense" I said, before realising whom I was speaking to. Holy hell, I was speaking with one of the Kings of Vampires, not with my dad! I blushed and attempted to apologize but before I could breathe a word his laughter resonated in the room.

"Yes, it can be. But it's also quite useful" he told me, his expression now a fatherly one.

He quickly descended the steps that separated the three thrones from the rest of the room and walked in front of us. "What a beautiful blush!" he sing-sang, looking at me. I blushed even redder.

Alice laughed. "You'll see a lot of that from her, I assure you" she told him. Rose nodded, smiling benevolently at me.

"Ah! How rude of me, I didn't greet you, my dears! I apologize!" Aro said, with a contrite expression.

Rose reassured him, "There is no need for an apology, Aro."

"I thank you for your kindness then, my dear. If my memory serves me, you must be Rosalie Hale" he said, holding out his hand. In greeting or for reading her thoughts I didn't know, probably both. She took it and he lightly kissed her hand.

He looked sad, "The way you came into our world is repulsive, but I am happy nonetheless that I got the chance to know you, dear."

Rose was suddenly grave and nodded mutely. I was sad and angry, too. Rose had already told me about her transformation and what happened during her human days. I could only imagine what she had felt.

"And you, my dear Alice, are equally welcome" Aro then moved to my right, to speak to her.

She offered her hand with a smile and he did the same thing. He kissed her skin with an elegance that was far superior to anything I had ever seen.

Then he moved to stand before me again. "My dear, I cannot tell you how much I'm intrigued by your mind. Particularly because I noticed, in Edward's thoughts, that he seems unable to hear you; moreover Demetri, our tracker, can't get a feel of your mind, either. May I try to read you?" he asked, holding out his hand to me.

My eyes widened when I heard that Demetri was a tracker. _Like James_.

Aro noticed my reaction and put a hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "I also know about that savage, _James_," he spat the name like an insult, "No one here will hurt you, much less _bite_ you."

Everyone in the room gasped. "What?!" Caius gasped, disbelieving.

Alice stepped forward. "What he says it's true" she said, and then proceeded to tell everyone of my dealings with James and his coven. "He indeed bit her" she concluded, and to prove her words I rolled back the black cotton covering my arm and showed everyone my bite. Light from the window shone on my arm, and the bitemark sparkled much like vampire skin.

"Amazing" Marcus muttered so low I wasn't even sure he spoke.

"You can try to read me, Aro" I then said. I offered my hand and he immediately took it. He felt colder to the touch than any other vampire I knew.

After a few seconds he released me with a laugh. "Seems you are indeed powerful" he said, eyeing me with interest and curiosity, "You blocked me as well. You are talented as much as you are beautiful."

At that I could only blush and mutter "Thank you."

"It is but the mere truth. Now, I'm sure that you and your sisters are eager to settle. I have arranged for a suite for you. I hope you will find yourselves at home."

"Aro," I spoke before he could turn to call a guard, "What about our diets?" I asked. Of course, Alice and Rose wouldn't drink human blood, and I required human food.

He lightened up, "Oh, yes! I forgot. Thank you, dear Bella" he smiled, "Of course, you can continue drinking animal blood. Your suite has windows that face an area of the city usually not crowded, so you can slip out anytime you desire" he said to Rose and Alice, "For you, lovely Bella, I have asked our human secretary to choose a kitchen for you to install in your suite and to make sure food is always available. The kitchen was installed two days ago and the food was delivered yesterday evening. I hope it appeals to you more than it does to us" he joked, and I smiled.

"Thank you. And yes, it does." I replied.

"Perfect" he said, clapping his hands and gesturing a female guard to come closer. "This is Heidi, she will show you your quarters. Have a good time here" he waved with his hand while he returned to his throne.

A beautiful vampire smiled at us. She had long wavy mahogany hair and a curvy figure. She could give Rosalie a run for her money in the beauty department. "Please follow me." She had a melodious voice.

We trailed behind her as she walked out the throne room and into another corridor. Every wall was made of stone and there were statues, paintings and various antique objects adorning the space. Heidi walked at human pace, so we reached the suite assigned to us in about twenty minutes. She opened the door for us and stepped aside, gesturing for us to enter. She closed the door after we entered with a simple "Have a nice day."

The rooms were nice. As soon as you opened the door you found yourself in a spacious living room, with two light baroque couches and a rocking chair. There were also a lit fireplace and several shelves full of books, old and new. The floor was carpeted in deep green. Two walls were made of stone, one of shelves and another of windows.

There were three doors, each one of them led to a different bedroom. Rosalie claimed the one in the hues of blue, Alice the light purple one and I got the red one. Each bedroom had a private marble bathroom, and mine had also a fully stocked kitchen, as Aro promised.

I returned to the living room and sat on the rocking chair. "They seem friendly" I said, knowing well my sisters could hear me. In a second they were seated on the couch across from the fireplace.

"They do because they are" Rose smiled.

"That's a good start" I said, rocking slowly.

Alice grinned and stretched, even though she didn't need it. "It is, indeed."

A few minutes passed while we remained in a comfortable silence. Then Rosalie spoke, "Now what do we do, Alice?" she turned to her.

My pixie sister grinned and said, "Now we wait for the invitation to the first ball."

I thought sarcastically, _I can't wait…_


	10. Chapter 10

FELIX'S POV

_Holy. Hell._

As our three guests left the room I could do nothing but be flabbergasted. And I was not the only one.

Damn. Bella had quite a story. She was impressive. She had elaborated a plan to escape a tracker, succeeded, and then confronted him and survived. Granted, she had had help and she suffered a lot of injuries, but she lived nonetheless. She had been bitten for Christ's sake!

When she had showed her bitemark, I had felt a feral growl rise from my chest. It took all my willpower to suppress it. I had felt so enraged.

"Damn, dude. The tiny girl is really a warrior." I felt a hand grasp my shoulder and I was ripped out of my mind. I turned to find both Demetri and Santiago staring at me. they, too, looked very much surprised.

I nodded, "It would seem so" I said.

"You didn't tell us she was that hot" Santiago complained, glaring at me and Dem. Afton and Chelsea joined our conversation "Such a pretty human" she said, and her mate nodded. She shot a glare at him, ever the jealous type, and Afton kissed her reassuringly "She will never beat you in my eyes, my love."

We laughed. Looking around, I noticed that everyone was bundled in several groups, talking about Bella and her sisters. Even the masters were quietly talking, not caring about us.

"All of them seem nice" Afton declared, albeit a bit unsurely.

"Though the scene was amusing: three women, two of which vampire and one human, and the one who talked was the human. The lesser one" Jane speculated, having joined us, too, along with her twin Alec.

Demetri barked a laugh, "Trust me, our Little Swan might be human, and physically weaker than any of us, but her spirit and mind are stronger than most."

I nodded, "She didn't show an ounce of fear when meeting us. She even stared at us, without looking away! Man, she even confronted the Cullen boy! Her supposed mate."

Alec frowned, "Supposed?"

"They are not really mates, and I think even she knows that, along with her sisters—they seem really close—but I bet that Cullen still hasn't figured out" Dem said excitedly.

"Dude, you are worse than a human busybody" I joked and elbowed him. He grunted, shoving me in turn.

"How can you be sure?" Santiago asked, ignoring our small banter. Dem sighed, "She wouldn't have been able to leave him and, before then, _he_ wouldn't have left _her_. Plus, she stood up to him, completely ignoring him and disregarding his opinion."

Chelsea snickered and leaned back in her mate's chest, "Are you aware of the fact that the concept of the female mate being submissive has been long passed?"

He glared at her, "Yes, _Chelsy_" he said, using the nickname she hated most, earning a hiss, "But you didn't see how she disrespected him. You weren't there."

"So, you are saying she is a cad?" Jane arched a brow.

I had the sudden urge to defend her. _What is going on with me?_ "She's not. He presumed—erroneously—that he could choose everything in her place, and she simply put him in his place. Which, for the record, is under her feet" I grinned.

Everyone cackled, "She and I will get along beautifully, then" Jane smiled, and for a second she looked like the young teenager she was—excited and eager to make new friends. Chelsea and the others nodded, expressing their agreement.

"We all will, I think" Heidi said, entering in the room and making her way to our group. She had a faint smile on her face.

"Why?" Alec inquired curiously. "Did you talk with her?" Afton asked at the same time.

"No, I didn't, but I can tell that she is one to respect. Her eyes might be beautiful—as the rest of her—but they are also wise and sincere. But I also feel that, as little and harmless as she seems, she is not one to be trifled with" she added, grinning.

All of us thought about her words. Before we could start talking again the voice of our master interrupted. "Ahem. My dear ones, please attention!" Master Aro called, clapping his hands once.

Immediately we all focused on our Masters. "Well, it seems our dear Bella succeeded in capturing our attention" he smiled dreamily, "Even my brothers and I were amazed by such an unusual human. We couldn't help but overhear your conversation, young Felix, Demetri, Chelsea, Afton, Jane, Alec and Heidi" he called each of our names, looking at us as he spoke them.

"I would be beyond happy if you could help with our guests' setting. Heidi has already guided them to their quarters. Felix and Demetri have already met them, but the rest of you hasn't. I would be delighted if you could spare some time to get acquainted with them" he said, smiling.

Master Aro was a pro at masking orders for requests. Obviously, we all nodded. He smiled even brightly, "Very well. Moving on to the next matter" he said, seating back in his throne, "I am sure you are all aware that tomorrow evening we'll hold the first of five balls in honour of our lovely guests, yes? Unfortunately, dear Bella and her sisters' beauty and charm prevented me from giving them their invitations" he looked defeated, "Jane, Alec. Would you please be two dears and go to their quarters and invite them to a stroll in the gardens this late afternoon?" he asked.

The twins nodded and bowed their heads.

"Marvellous!" Aro exclaimed.

Then happened something I never thought would occur ever. Marcus stood up and addressed us directly, "Under no circumstances is Miss Isabella to be harmed. If one of you transgress this order, death is the punishment."

His voice wasn't frail and wavering like it thought it would be—as it was the last time I heard him speak, decades ago—but instead it was strong and powerful. The voice of a leader.

Marcus was never a shell. He was only dormant, and now he arose.

He was still waiting for a response from us. Seeing that everyone else was still admiring this renewed Master Marcus, I stepped forward and bowed deeply. "We understand, Master Marcus. Now harm will come to Miss Isabella Swan, we swear."

He seemed satisfied by my answer, as he retreated back in his throne. Even Master Caius and Master Aro looked mildly surprised by his bizarre behaviour.

Hell, since Bella had arrived strange shit had started to happen.

"Jane, Alec, go talk with our guests. Tell them what we decided earlier" Caius ordered, not bothering to sound polite.

He rarely wasn't grumpy, but with Bella he did act way politer than I thought he would. And that was a point in favour of my bet.

As the twins rushed to obey orders, and the rest of us was dismissed. Before we left the room we were all told that our presence in tonight's meeting in the garden wasn't optional. We all nodded before leaving.

Well, today was surely interesting. That girl in a few minutes had already caused a great change in the castle, and even in one of our Kings. Master Marcus seemed, impossibly, more alive. Unluckily I was unaware of the reason why, but I suspected that Little Swan had something to do with that.

_Strange shit indeed happens when she's around_, I thought smiling as I made my way to my room, _And I can't wait to discover what the tiny warrior will bring into our lives_.


	11. Chapter 11

BELLA'S POV

After Alice said that, she settled more firmly on the couch. I sighed, realising that I couldn't squeeze more details from her, and I went in my bedroom and started unpacking my things. I didn't know who took care of that, but upon entering I had found my luggage in the corner of the room.

I didn't have a lot of things with me, as Alice was the one who packed my bags while I was talking with Charlie—she probably planned to take me out for some shopping. I had only three sets of underwear, two short dresses, one long one, three sweaters and one hoodie, two pairs of jeans—one light blue and one black—and my trusty pair of Converse. I shivered at the thought of the insane shopping session Alice would take me out to.

I had finished packing and I decided to change. I had to admit, the shoes were strangely comfortable despite the heels, but my feet were starting to hurt nonetheless. I had barely discarded my cardigan and my boots when a knock resounded on the door. Not the one to my bedroom, but the front one, leading to the living room.

I heard it open and heard two voices. One of them belonged to Alice, the other one to an unknown male, but surely vampire. I opened the door and stepped out my bedroom into the living room, going to sit beside Rosalie, who was perched elegantly on the couch.

She eyed my bare feet with a bemused expression, then she returned her stare to the two vampires—one male, one female—that had entered the room.

They both looked alike, and very young. I could tell that they were related not solely by venom, but also by blood. Both their hair were brown, but whereas the boy's delicately framed his pale face, the girl's were styled in a tight bun at the back of her head. Their eyes were glued on me. "Hello" I said softly.

They both smiled, and Alice urged them in. "Now that we are all here," she then said, sitting beside me and Rose while the two guards sat on the other couch, "You can report your message."

I looked at them and the girl spoke. "Before relaying our Masters' message, though, we would like to introduce ourselves" she said, and the boy nodded.

"My name is Alec" he said, offering me his hand to shake. I scrambled to shake it, not desiring to be rude, and I smiled at him. He then turned to her relative, "And this is my twin sister, Jane."

Ah-ha. So I was right. Twins, wow.

"Nice to meet you, guys" I said, and they smiled at me.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Miss Bella" Jane said, before shifting infinitesimally on the couch.

I noticed the move, and I frowned. Was she uncomfortable? "What's wrong?" I asked her, and she looked up at me, surprised I even noticed.

"You have a keen sense of observation, Miss Bella. And, to answer your question, I am indeed partially uncomfortable, because I would like to ask you something and I am afraid of how you'd react" she confessed.

"Oh, don't worry Jane. You are free to ask" I said, leaning forward to meet her red gaze.

She seemed surprised by my gesture, but quickly composed herself. "Very well. May I use my gift on you?" she asked.

As soon her words were out of her mouth, growls resonated in the room. I looked to my sisters and saw them growling and teeth-bared. Jane looked resigned. "Rose! Alice!" I gasped at their expression. They looked furious, their eyes black. "What's wrong with you?" I shook them, trying to get them out of their cloud of rage.

Their gazes slowly turned to me, and they slightly relaxed. "Ask her what her power is" Rose hissed, glaring at Jane.

"I was going to do just that before you went bananas" I replied, annoyed. Then I turned to Jane with a raised brow, "Well, what is your power?"

She sighed. "I inflict pain on my victims. They feel like fire is ravaging their minds, and they are incapacitated to move from the pain they feel for as long as I use my power on them. It only takes a stare."

I was flabbergasted. But mostly I was offended. Offended because, despite what he promised, Aro sent someone here to hurt and intimidate me. Maybe to test if I was immune to her gift as well. I was simply an experiment.

"Bella, Aro does not know about this. It was my idea. In truth, he threatened everyone that dared to harm you. See, I wanted to know if you were immune to my gift, and my brother's. He can cut off all of your senses temporarily" she explained, and I relaxed.

At least Aro did say the truth. He didn't want to harm me.

"But why do you want to hurt me?" I asked her.

Incredibly, she looked embarrassed. "I… well, everyone is afraid of us because of our gift. We're always alone, few are truly our friends. I wanted to know if you were immune, so we could have been friends more easily."

I was 100% sure that if they could, they would have been bright red.

I was just as flabbergasted as before, only that the offence was replaced by delight. Rose and Alice had long stopped growling, and now were looking at the twins with sympathy. Sympathy I felt mirrored on my face.

I sat up straighter. "Alright. You can both try and use your gift on me. But with one condition: as soon as you notice that it's working, you stop. Is that clear?" I asked sternly. It was imperative they got this right, or else I was in for a world of pain.

They both nodded eagerly. Rose and Alice slid as far from me as they could while still sitting on the couch.

"Alec will try first, is that okay Miss Bella?" Jane asked, and I nodded. Alec turned to me, staring at me with a concentrated face. I waited some seconds but I felt nothing.

"Nothing changed" I said, looking at him. He looked surprised, yet relieved, "You are immune to my gift then."

"It's my turn now" Jane declared, and I steeled myself. "I truly hope this doesn't work" she muttered under her breath, before staring at me fiercely. I tensed—as did Rosalie and Alice—prepared to scream at the first ounce of pain, but I felt none. Two second later, Jane smiled happily, "You are immune!" she said jovially.

Alice and Rose were relieved and somehow proud. "You are very powerful" Alec congratulated me. I felt myself smile, half embarrassed by the compliment and half absurdly proud.

"Well," Jane crossed her legs, "Now that that's settled, we will rely our message. Master Aro pleaded you to come have a stroll—which will probably turn out to be a massive soiree if Aro has it his way—this late afternoon in the gardens of the Palace. Do you accept the invite?"

I was going to say yes, but then Alice asked, with a panicked face "How long do we have?"

"To accept the invite? Well, if you could tell us now—" Alec started, but she interrupted him, "No, no. of course we accept. Duh. How long do we have to prepare ourselves?" She still looked panicked.

Oh god, typical Alice. Always thinking about clothes.

Jane looked at the pendulum clock in the room. "Now it's five pm, I think you have about two hou—" she didn't even had a chance to finish the sentence before Alice screeched and started going bananas. "Oh dear Lord! We don't have time!" she yelled, before flashing inside my room, then hers and then Rosalie's.

I turned to the twins. "I'd suggest you leave if you want to live," I joked, and they smiled, "Thank Aro for his invite."

They nodded and bowed before leaving our suite.

After they were gone, Alice came back. "God, couldn't have they told us earlier!"

"Alice calm down" Rose tried to soothe her, but to no avail.

"Everyone needs to have a shower and then dress and then we'll have to go!" Alice said, taking deep breaths as if she was trying not to hyperventilate. Even though she technically didn't need to breathe.

I laughed under my breath when Alice proceeded to run both me and Rose in our respective bathrooms. When she left I began to undress and got into the shower. I let the warm water soothe me and relax my muscles. I quickly washed my hair and my body with the expensive lotions Alice had put in my bags. They were odourless, probably o the smell of shampoo wouldn't mess with my blood's one.

I rinsed myself and stepped out the shower. I dried my skin with the softest towels I had ever touched and wrapped my hair in another one. As I was rubbing some cream—also odourless—on my body, Alice rushed in with a blow-drier. "Sit" she ordered. She was already wearing make-up and her hair were styled in the cute messy look I adored.

I did as told and she proceeded to dry my hair. My hair fell dry, lucent and perfectly straight down my back in less time that I would have deemed possible.

"Now put on the clothes I laid on your bed" she ordered me, and I dutifully went in my bedroom to look at the outfit chosen for me. I thanked whatever deity was listening that it was no dress.

She had laid out a dark blue, skin-tight stretch cotton t-shirt with sleeves that reached just below my elbow and a deep V neckline. My boobs were wrapped in white lace and it was a miracle the material didn't show—the neckline was deep, but not _so_ much. Matching panties were covered by white jeans so tight I thought I was going to rip them when moving.

It wasn't lost on me that the only things belonging to my wardrobe were my Converse, but I decided to let it slide.

Alice came back just as I was finished. She held in her hands a mascara and a lip gloss. I glared at her and she tsked, "You are not going to talk me of out this, I assure you. Now be good, we have only half an hour."

I looked at the wooden clock on the wall, surprised to see that more than one hour and a half had already passed.

"Yes, time passes fast" Alice informed me, while applying make-up on my face. When she was done she grabbed me and parked me on the couch. A few seconds later she did the same thing with Rose.

She was wearing a dark green one-sleeved bodysuit, blue jeans and a pair of nude pumps; Alice was wearing a Tiffany-green halter dress and white flats.

When all of us were seated on the couch, ready to go, I asked, "What now?"

Alice smirked wordlessly and, sure enough, two seconds later there was a knock at the door.

I went to open it and found the vampire I recognised as Heidi smiling at me. "Miss Bella, I'm here to escort you and your sisters to the gardens. Shall we?" she asked politely.

I felt Rose and Alice come stand beside me. Alice smiled at me. She mouthed the word 'search' and I nodded back at her. The research for my mate would start today then.

I smiled at Heidi. "Lead the way."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Didyme was killed by the Children of the Moon in this fic, and all the three Volturi kings are beautiful and in their mid-twenties! Caius' viciousness is only a façade, Aro is the as cunning as he is in the books (only more caring and friendly), and Marcus inside is a fierce, vicious warrior, but kind with who deserves it.**

* * *

FELIX'S POV

I was going to kill myself.

I had stepped in the gardens of the Palace not more than twenty minutes ago, and I was already tired of this shit. Not of the soiree itself, but of the attendants. Well, in truth, only _one_ attendant—our human secretary, Gianna.

I had barely finished admiring the white and bronze gazebos that occupied the space in the blooming garden, the couches and sofas placed everywhere, and all the ill-smelling human food piled on some tables along with bottles of blood ale, when I felt her warm, minuscule hand snake on my arm.

For a second I thought it was Bella's hand, but she would have never touched me without my consent, and she most certainly smelled and felt far better than this pathetic female.

"Felix! How nice to see you" she had exclaimed, with a sickening smile. Probably, she was supposed to look seductive dressed in that tight and very much inexistent dress, but she was only succeeding in looking like a slut.

"Gianna, remove you hand" I had ordered her. She had pouted in what she must have thought was a cute way. "Now" I had growled, when she hadn't done as told. Her heartrate had speeded up, and finally she had released me.

But then she had started talking. Talking about famous shops and designers and nice cities she wanted to see after she would be turned into a vampire. I had almost scoffed at that. The woman was more likely to become a meal than a vampire. I would see to it.

And she was still talking. Her voice was nauseous—so acute and piercing, so childish. I was set on ripping her tongue off right then and there, until a hand fell on my shoulder. I looked at the owner of said hand and met Caius' amused gaze. I glared at him and he snickered, before taking action.

"Human" he snarled at Gianna. She immediately froze, and her heartrate skyrocketed. I was pleased by her fear, as was Caius.

"Can't you see that we are sickened by your presence?" he told her, disdain evident on his face. I smirked. He was an innate bastard, and many knew that. What most did not know was that, under all the layers of bitchy-ness, he was a loyal and kind friend to those he deemed worthy. Those few people being namely: his brothers, the wives, and the Elite Guard—which was composed by myself, Demetri, the twins, Heidi, Santiago, Afton, Chelsea, Renata and Corin.

Gianna was not part of the lucky group, though, and she started crying at Caius' words. The sound of her weeping felt equally nice and annoying to my ears. It seemed like Aro thought the same thing—well, everyone thought that, no one really liked Gianna.

"Gianna, you may leave us for the night. We'll see you tomorrow at seven am" he smiled at her. There was an hint of wickedness in the smile, and I knew why.

Tomorrow at seven am. When Heidi would bring us our food.

I smirked inwardly. Finally the useless would be gone forever.

I looked as she scurried away, still crying, and I heard Caius chuckle. "What's funny?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "You looked like you were about to rip her heart out."

I nodded, "I was actually thinking about going for her tongue."

He laughed at that, saying "Well, luckily I stopped you in time. Even though I wouldn't mind seeing that filthy human dead, her blood would have ruined the atmosphere" he spread his arms to encompass the entire garden.

"Miss Bella is coming" someone said; and we then heard Heidi's steps, along with the three sisters'.

I was suddenly nervous. Why was I nervous? Never mind that. Now I could hear Bella's steady heartbeat nearing.

Two minutes later, the doors opened and four women stepped in the gardens. The first one was Heidi, wearing a pretty salmon dress, then came the three Cullen sisters. Bella was in the middle of the trio, with Rosalie at her left and the seer at her right. She looked beautiful dressed like that. Blue did wonders for her creamy skin and the neckline showed her perfect boobs—_wait, what? What the hell am I thinking? Jeez, I need to get a grip._

I mentally shook myself when I heard their gasps. Their eyes lit up with wonder when they took in the gardens and the blooming flowers. "Oh my…" I heard the seer mutter.

Then, their attention was ensnared by Aro, when he lightly cleared his throat. "I take it you like our gardens?" he gently asked, and they smiled.

Oh god, Bella always looked radiant, but when she smiled like that—stoooop. What the hell is wrong with me?!

I focused again on them when I heard Bella speak, "Your gardens are beautiful. Also, thank you for your invite" she said, and eyed the gazebos with all the food questioningly.

Master Aro followed her gaze and grinned, "We hired a human chef to prepare food for you. I hope you will like it" he told her, smiling at her fondly.

She blushed prettily and smiled a shy smile, "Thank you, Aro. It really wasn't necessary—"

He interrupted her, "Nonsense, it was my pleasure."

She bowed her head, "Then I thank you."

He smiled at her, then turned to the two vampires flanking her. He told them something about animal blood in certain bottles, but I wasn't listening. My mind was focused on Isabella—more precisely on how she was playing with a lock of her hair, and on how she was lightly biting her lower lip as she listened to the conversation.

Suddenly, I felt a stare pierce my back. I looked at the source of the glare, and found Marcus glaring daggers at me.

What the fuck?

Although I was happy that he was showing some emotion, I didn't understand why he was so angry with me all of a sudden.

I was freed from his piercing glare when he turned to look back at Bella, and his expression muted to one of deep love. My chest tightened at that, and jealousy shot through me.

Alright, what the fuck was happening to me?

I hadn't noticed that Aro had finished speaking with the Cullen women and that everyone else was now enjoying themselves. Every vampire had a glass of blood in their hand, and Bella held a plate with some shrimp on it. She was eating it while enjoying a conversation with Chelsea and Afton. She was laughing at something Afton said, and her smile was refreshingly beautiful.

"Dude, you ain't gonna grab some blood?" I heard Santiago ask me from where he had appeared beside me, as he slapped me on the shoulder. I realised I had no glass in hand. I nodded and went to grab a flute and poured some blood in it.

I went back to sit on a couch, diving in in a conversation between Santiago, Demetri and Alec. I noticed that Rosalie was engrossed in a conversation with Jane and Heidi, while Alice was speaking with Aro and Corin.

Where was Bella?

Ah, there she was. With—oh God! She was speaking with Marcus!

I elbowed Demetri, who was sitting beside me, and when he asked me what was wrong, I simply pointed to them. He saw them, too, and his eyes bulged in disbelief.

It had been decades since we had last seen him actually speaking to someone, but now there he was, speaking with Bella Swan as if he did that every day. I was speechless.

He was saying something, too low for anyone else to hear, and he seemed happy about what he was telling her.

Suddenly, she smiled and set the now-empty crystal plate on the stone bench where they were seated, near a rosebush. Then she did something completely unexpected. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"Holy shit!" Demetri hissed, low enough for the pair not to hear but too loud to avoid being heard by Jane, Heidi and Rosalie, who turned toward us and then followed our line of sight. They gasped too, attracting the attention of Aro, Alice and Corin, and everyone near them. They saw the scene, too, and gasped as well.

Soon, every vampire was staring at them, astonished but delighted—and they had yet to release each other from their embrace.

Bella was the one who retracted first. She had a bright smile on her face—a smile that fell when she noticed how everyone was gaping at her.

"What?" she asked, worriedly.

Master Marcus then chuckled. _Chuckled_.

_This is not a drill. I repeat, this is NOT a drill._

"Brother?" Caius looked at him with a curious expression on his face.

Then Marcus cleared his throat and stood up, and for the first time in many centuries, I saw him standing straight and tall. He now looked like the true, fierce warrior he had been before his mate's death. He exuded an aura of power that was both intimidating and invigorating.

"Brothers, loyal guards, esteemed guests" he started, and his voice was as powerful as it could be, "May I present to you my beautiful Protected?"

I though my jaw was splattered on the floor.

He then took Bella's hand in his own, and she stood, going to stand behind him.

Damn, she was absolutely beautiful. She looked like a fucking goddess, or an empress. And in some ways, she was. She was the protected of our King. A Protected was considered, in the vampire world, like a son/daughter to the Protector, and said Protector would be extremely protective and caring toward his/her Protected. Her bond to him made her automatically our Princess.

As if everyone else realised that at the same time I did, they all dropped to their right knee and bowed deeply. Even the two Cullens.

Only the brothers weren't required to kneel, so they went to their brother and new-acquired niece.

"This is a great day! I'm so happy for you!" Aro exclaimed placing a hand on Marcus' shoulder. Caius went to hug Bella, "Welcome to the family, Princess Isabella, dear niece" he said to her, kissing her on the head. She blushed furiously.

"You can all rise" Master Marcus then commanded, and we all rose. Then, everyone started clapping and cheering. We were all happy that our Master had finally re-found happiness, not in the form of a mate, but a Protected.

Princess Bella—she insisted for us to call her Bella and not Isabella. She didn't even want the title, but Aro was having none of it—was blushing and thanking everyone, all the while standing glued to her Protector's side.

Caius and Aro were standing beside her, as well. Caressing her and kissing her head more times than I could count.

I felt a jab at my side. It was Demetri. He offered me 100 bucks, smirking at Caius and his adoring eyes while he looked at Bella. "Apparently you won our bet" he said, and I smirked putting the money in my pocket.

"I am glad I did" I told him, smiling at the happiness that now seemed to surround us all like an eternal aura.

"So am I, my brother, so am I."


	13. Chapter 13

BELLA'S POV

I was so happy.

When Marcus had gently asked me to go sit with him and talk I was so nervous, but when he had begun telling me his story—how he had come to be a part of the Volturi, how he had met and fallen in love with Aro's sister, Dydime, and how the now-extinct Children of the Moon had killed her. My heart was wailing when I saw how much sadness he felt. Then I became enraged when I heard how the Romanians, the Volturi's biggest enemy and former leader coven, had tried to blame Dydime's death on Aro.

But what had surprised me the most was the revelation of our bond. It took me a few minutes to understand that. Basically, we had a father-daughter bond, but way more strengthened. He wasn't only my father, but my Protector, so that meant my guide, my mentor, my supporter and a whole bunch of other worlds he told me. And I was his Protected; he told me that that meant he would protect me with his life and ensure that my life would be a happy one.

I was adamant to do the same for him. It felt as if when he had told me of our bond, suddenly I felt a connection with him.

When he had told me how happy he was that I, of all people, was his Protected, I had felt so incredibly happy and relieved to see some life spark in his eyes that I had to hug him. I had thrown my arms around his neck and pressed my body to his. He had immediately returned my hug, resting his head in the crook of my neck. We had begun whispering promises of eternal love and companionship and gentle words.

We had been so engulfed in our own bubble that we almost missed all the gasps that suddenly surrounded us.

Releasing each other we turned and saw every other vampire in the garden staring at us, mouth agape. Marcus smiled slightly and stood up. Pride filled my entire body when I saw him standing tall and strong like the true leader and warrior he had been before his depression. And he was going to return to be that same man once more, if not more, if I had anything to say. As he spoke, the people were even more shocked. His voice was strong and powerful, and also full of pride as he told them of our bond. When he took my hand, I felt flooded by a sense of calm and peacefulness not even Jasper had managed to make me feel.

With Marcus I felt like I was at home. He had even asked me to call him Father.

When he finished speaking, every guard—and even Rose and Alice—dropped to their knee and bowed. Bowed to _me_.

Old Bella would have blushed and started stuttering about it being too much, but New Bella is simply going to blush slightly and accept this show of respect.

However, I wasn't prepared for Aro and Caius' enthusiasm. The others had barely raised from their bowing stance when they came and assaulted me with hugs and kisses (this was Aro) and congratulations and caresses (obviously Caius). They asked me to call them Uncles.

"We insist! We are family now! Please little one, give us this honour" Aro pleaded with me.

"The honour is all mine, Mast—ehm, Uncle" I replied, catching myself just in time. He smiled brightly, as did Caius and Marcus.

As they went back to speaking with the others, I was instantly submerged by the hugs of my sisters.

"OH MY GOD!" Alice screeched in my ear. "We're so happy for you!" Rose added, as they both released me.

"Thanks girls" I replied, smiling at them. Alice was jumping up and down like an hyperactive kid, "You're gonna make the perfect Princess!"

"Wait a minute, Alice, I'm not a Princess" I said to her.

"Of course you are" Marcus told me, "You are my Protected and, as your Protector is a king, you are a Princess."

He smiled at my gape. "And, since you are a Volturi Princess, you have to greet your loyal subjects."

As if on cue, a line formed before my eyes. Every vampire was now waiting to greet me. Oh, dear me. Alice and Rose giggled before curtsying and scurrying away. I rolled my eyes, then concentrated on the line of vampires in front of me.

The first ones to formally introduce themselves were Chelsea and Afton. I had already spoken with them before Marcus' revelation, so they didn't have to tell me about their names or their powers. They simply bowed and swore loyalty to me before going away to enjoy the evening.

As they went to grab some more blood, Marcus—who hadn't left my side for a second—leaned in and whispered in my ear, "This is just an unofficial swearing. The official one will be held when you are ready, in the throne room. And then, after that we will have all the other covens swear loyalty to you, as well."

"But I'm just a human" I replied, confused. So much fuss for me. It seemed excessive.

His eyes darkened. "Isabella" he told me fiercely, "You are not 'just' anything. You are my Protected, my daughter, and you are a brilliant, beautiful woman. As such you must be respected and treasured, both because of your title and your own self."

A wave of tears came forth at his words but I fought them back. We had just met, and yet we both loved each other so fiercely. I was lucky. I was so unbelievably lucky to have all of them in my life. Charlie, the Cullens, and now the Volturi.

Seeing my happy tears, Marcus' expression softened into a fond smile, but before any of us could speak, a throat cleared. We turned and found that the first in line to greet me was waiting. I didn't recognise him, but he was wearing a coat similar to Demetri and Felix's, it was the same shade.

When he realised he had my attention he bowed deeply. "My Princess. My name is Santiago, and I am part of the Elite Guard. I have no gift, only great strength and velocity. I am delighted to meet you, my Princess, and I swear to serve, protect and honour you until the end of my days" he said, then he bowed again.

I nodded at him. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Santiago. And thank you for your kind words. I hope we'll become good friends in the future" I smiled. He raised his head and grinned at me, "I hope that too, Princess. Have a good evening" he said, before bowing again—damn if they weren't vampires I'd be worried with the condition of their cervical spondylosis with all their bowing!—and going away.

Then came a vampress with dark hair. She introduced herself as Renata, also a member of the Elite Guard, and a physical shield. She said that her shield cannot actively block an attacker, but rather unconsciously repel them and drive them in another direction. They simply go away without knowing why they're doing so.

Then came Demetri. Already knowing him and his gift—he was the most skilled tracker in the vampire world—our talk was brief.

Then came a female woman with golden hair. Corin, a member of the Elite Guard, with the power to make others feel content. She says the same thing as the others and goes away.

Then came Jane and Alec, who I had already met. Our conversation was quick but pleasant. I had a feeling that we would be great friends. Truth to be told, everyone seemed friendly.

Then came Heidi. Elite Guard, she had the power to dazzle you and attract you to her. She was the Fisher, the one who brings human victims to Volterra so they can be eaten. Surprisingly, I didn't feel the typical uneasiness I usually felt when in the presence of a human-drinker who blatantly prided in killing humans—such as James.

Some lower guards introduced themselves to me. They didn't possess powerful gifts as the vampires in the Elite Guard did, or weren't as strong—certainly the reason of the difference in rank—but they mingled with those most important members well.

This was not the coven that Edward described me. This wasn't even a _coven_. This was a family, a numerous, various family. Sure, there was power and rank, but it seemed like those more formal things were enforced only when in the presence of other covens, or in dire situation. To show a strong, unified front. Behind the scenes, they were a family as much as the Cullens were.

"My Princess" the last vampire greeted, and bowed, more deeply than the others. I met his gaze and saw Felix. "Ah, Felix. Hello" I said, smiling.

He smiled back at me and bowed again, "How's your evening, Princess?" he asked.

"Pretty good. I just gained a new family" I laughed, and his answering smile was dazzling. In the background I saw Santiago elbow Demetri with an excited expression. The duo then proceeded to stare at us. Grinning.

_Yes, this is most definitely a family._


	14. Chapter 14

FELIX'S POV

I was fully aware of the grins on my friends' faces. Those dicks.

I focused again on the small, beautiful brunette in front of me. My Princess. The title had a nice ring to it.

"Milady. My name is Felix Volturi. I was changed by Master Aro, and since then I have been part of the Elite Guard. I have no gift except enhanced fighting abilities and superior strength. I am honoured to call you my Princess, and I'll be delighted to serve, protect and honour you like you deserve" I told her, and she smiled a beautiful smile, a blush colouring her cheeks.

She slightly inclined her head. "And I'd be honoured to have you as a friend and follower" she said.

I smiled and bowed again. Her eyes were truly the window to her soul. She was so sincere and pure. Perfect, beautiful and clever.

I went to speak again, but a throat being cleared stopped me. I looked toward the source of the sound, finding Master Marcus staring at me with a confused and slightly annoyed expression. I bowed quickly after he spoke, dismissing me, "Thank you for expressing you loyalty to my daughter, Felix. You can go enjoy the evening."

"Good evening, Master. Princess." I stepped back and went to one of the tables where blood was served.

I felt the exact moment when Bella's eyes turned away from my form.

_Why was Master Marcus annoyed?_ I asked myself. I tried to think of a reason for his anger, but I found none. _Maybe he was just annoyed because I met Bella before him, and he didn't know how I treated her._ Yeah, that was definitely the reason. He surely gave Dem the same stare. Although I couldn't know if he actually did. I had been too occupied with admiring our new Princess to pay attention.

I refilled my glass of blood and went to take a sip, but a powerful slap on my back nearly made me spill the entire liquid.

"She's nice! Very beautiful, also" Santiago told me enthusiastically.

For some unknown reason I was disturbed by his words. They triggered something primal in me that encouraged me to punch him in his face. I decided to ignore that strange instinct.

"She indeed is" Dem confirmed, "I'm sure she'll be a just, active and clever Princess."

"Of that I have no doubt" I added.

"I wonder how the Cullens will take this new bit of news" Santiago snickered.

"Those two have taken it pretty well" Dem pointed out, and we all looked to the two vampresses, who were now engaged in an enthusiastic conversation with Bella.

"I think that Carlisle will be surprised, but happy. He was never one to hold grudges against anyone, no matter what. Esme will be the same. I don't know her well but it's clear she thinks of Bella as a daughter" Dem continued.

"I'm pretty sure the one we should worry about is Edward Cullen" I said and my friends nodded in agreement.

Before we could resume our talk, Master Aro's voice resonated in the air.

"Jane! Alec! How could you?" he shouted, disbelieving and angry. All the attention was now focused on him and the twins. Both of them looked ashamed and mortified. Jane was talking with Chelsea and Afton, while Alec's hand was firmly grasped between Aro's ones.

Both twins were now standing before our Master. They hung their heads.

The rest of us was confused. The twins rarely received any punishment, and surely not by Aro. But now, he looked _livid_.

What was going on?

My confusion must have been reflected in my face and in others' ones, because Master Aro growled, "They used their power on Isabella" he said, too furious to remember that the Princess didn't like to be called with her full name.

Every guard member released a collective gasp. All of us looked horrified. Caius and Marcus looked as livid as their brother. Marcus growled savagely, and I found myself echoing the sound. His eyes snapped briefly in my direction, and they were pitch black. A constant rumble was being emitted by his chest, and it only stopped when Bella flung herself into his arms.

"No! Don't be angry with them! They had my permission!" she said frantically, trying to save the twins from a severe punishment, if the Masters' faces were any indication.

"Bella…" Caius started, but she cut him off. "No. they had my permission, and I knew what their gifts would do to me if they worked—"

"Wait, you mean they don't work?" Caius asked, astonished.

She blushed then. _So damn cute_. "They don't."

Everyone was gobsmacked. It was unthinkable. The witch twins, two of the most powerful vampires in the world, neutralised by a human.

I immediately scolded myself for that thought. Bella was no simple human. She was my Princess. And—"The most powerful human in the world" I uttered, not realising I had spoken out loud until everyone shifted their gazes to stare at me.

Bella blushed even more brightly. Her blush was beautiful, like the rest of her body. Unlike other girls', her blush was only on her cheeks, and not on her chest also, so that she didn't look like a red tomato.

Obviously I wasn't staring at her bare chest to know that. Of course not.

"That's an exaggeration…" she muttered, so low that if I hadn't been a vampire I wouldn't have been able to catch that.

Caius caressed her head, "It's not, my dear. You truly are powerful. Not powerful like those idiots who run the human world nowadays. You have _true_ power" he told her.

Bella was probably going to burn alive because of all our stares.

"Thanks" she whispered, smiling shyly.

Our attention was brought back to the twins by Master Aro's sigh. "What to do with you?" he sighed again.

Bella went to grab Aro's hand. Her confidence was amazing. Granted, our masters themselves had told her to be familiar with them, but for her to adapt so easily… simply amazing.

"Please, Uncle. I gave my permission. We had even discussed the terms of this try" she begged, the turned to extend the beg to Caius and Marcus.

As I looked into Aro's eyes—as well as Marcus and Caius' eyes—I knew they had lost. I grinned inwardly. Nobody could say no to Bella when she made those sweet puppy eyes. Adorable.

"Alright" Master Aro muttered, still not entirely convinced. Bella then smiled a radiant smile that immediately caused all of us to smile, too. As I said, adorable.

"And, since we are already talking about this…" Bella started, then turned to us guards, "If any of you desires to use your powers on me, you can. But at these conditions: you must tell me beforehand and wait for my verbal approval to proceed, you must tell me beforehand what your gift will cause me, you must stop as soon as you realise your gist is working, or not."

We were all awed. Bella was speaking with such confidence, such authority, that we all found ourselves bowing and muttering "Yes, Princess" at the same time, just as we did when one of the Masters issued a direct order.

Caius was the first to come to his senses. "Very well. Now that this issue has been taken care of" he said, "Let us return to our food and blood."

While everyone went to refill the glasses of blood and Bella went to pile on her plate some Milanese risotto, I noticed Marcus staring at me with a concentrated expression. As soon as he realised I had noticed, he went to speak with Aro and Caius.

I shrugged his weird behaviour off. It must have been strange for him to interact so openly with us after decades of shutting off. At least, that was what I thought his uncomfortableness came from.

Bella went to speak with the brothers, and they began discussing the ceremony when all guard members would pledge their loyalty to her.

I went to speak with some lower guards and from that point the night flew by flawlessly, with lots of talking and joking and eating.

We all wished Bella a good night when, two hours later, at 1 am, she declared she would retire for the night. Her sisters followed her, and soon the rest of us went back to our own chambers or went on guard duty. The blood had ended half an hour ago, and more than two thirds of Bella's food had been consumed.

As soon as I closed the door of my private chambers, I felt a pang of pain in my chest. It wasn't unbearable, but it was certainly distressful. I rubbed at my chest, trying to ease the uncomfortable feeling, and suddenly memories replayed in my mind.

Bella charming me. Her beautiful eyes. Her smile. Her beauty. Marcus' piercing stare. His confusion and anger. His protectiveness toward Bella.

Marcus' gift was reading relationships.

"Oh, God" I breathed, falling to my knees.

Realisation dawned upon me.

Suddenly, I was being shaken by two pairs of hands. I looked up and saw both Santiago and Demetri looking down at me with worry.

"Dude! What's wrong?" Santiago asked, scanning the space for a possible threat.

"She—" I gasped, but I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Who?" Dem asked, shaking me some more.

I bolted up, going to sit on my leather sofa. They stared at me. The pain was still in my chest, so I rubbed it to try to ease it, even though I knew full well that nothing could ever make that stop, except _her_.

They followed my movement, and their eyes bulged out after a second, when they, too, realised.

"Dude…" Demetri breathed.

Then, I looked at them straight in the eye. These words I was uttering felt _so right_—

"She's my mate."

* * *

He finally realised that! But... Bella still has no clue!

QUESTION: would you like to have a special chapter in Marcus' POV, so that he can tell us what he saw in Felix's bonds? Please tell me in the reviews, and also tell me what you think of the story! Kisses!


	15. Chapter 15--SPECIAL

**A/N: Here it is! The special chapter in Marcus' POV! I promise to do more of this special chapters, if you want. Just keep updated and check the end of every chapter to see if there is an announce with a Special Chapter! I will always ask before posting Special Chapters, so you can choose. This chapters will be shorter than normal ones, since they only fill some gaps. Kisses!**

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MARCUS' POV

I was surprised.

This was one of the best days of my life. I found my Protected in a wonderful woman such as Isabella, and she had accepted our bond with much love and eagerness, so much so that my knees actually buckled.

But then there was this line.

I had already detected a bond between Isabella and Felix, when they had traversed the double doors of the throne room. It was a faint bond, light coloured, and I thought it to be some sort of fascination—even the beginning of a friendship.

But now, as I walked back to my own chambers, reflecting on what I saw this evening, I realised my mistake.

It was not a simple friendship. Not even a sibling-like bond. It was a _soulmate_ bond. Not a simple mate, but a rare connection—cherished and almost magical. The usual mated couple was attracted to each other and felt pain when apart, but two soulmates… they were an entirely different matter.

The two soulmates were made for each other, physically and spiritually. They, too, were attracted to their other half, but their pull was not something simply physical: they could feel their very soul wailing because of the absence of the other, pleading for being reunited. Their bond not only affected their physical abilities, like a common mate bond did: the common mate bond enhanced slightly every physical performance, but only when the two mates were near; the soulmate bond enhanced greatly physical performances even when apart, and it also boosted immensely any possible power the mates could possess. The two soulmates would be connected body, soul and mind.

Tonight, I had witnessed the cementing of that bond.

At first I hadn't noticed it, too busy rejoicing with Isabella about our bond. But when I did, I was flabbergasted.

The once faint, light yellow bond was growing at an impressive rate into something much stronger and brighter. The barely there line became a big, solid bridge-like bond, almost a chain. Also the colour changed: as the bond grew, the hue brightened and became a vibrant, sparkling gold. It looked as if the bond itself was alive.

I shook my head, closing the door to my chambers—which I finally reached, enjoying the quiet.

As he had spoken with Isabella, in the gardens, I had begun thinking. I liked Felix. He was a good guard, and was extremely loyal and protective.

But that wasn't enough for me to consider him worthy of my Protected.

My resolve strengthened. Felix would have to prove himself to me and to my beautiful Isabella before anything else. I had no doubt about him being a marvellous guard, but between serving me and my brothers and being my daughter's mate there was a big difference.

I decided to let it all play out on its own. It wasn't a good idea to mess with fate. Fate made them meet, and it would make them united in their bond.

As I removed from my person my black coat I felt something flowing through me. It felt like an electric shock. And it came from Isabella.

I immediately checked my bond with her, and saw it untouched—actually, it seemed even stronger. She must have been unconsciously feeding our connection. I smiled. She was perfect, just like my Dydime.

But that didn't explain the sensation I received from her. Apparently our bond allowed me to _feel_ her even more deeply than I thought possible.

Maybe if I—Yes. There it was. I tried mentally walking on the bond that united us. Suddenly I found myself looking at Isabella's bonds. I saw her bonds with her sisters, strong and colourful; her bonds to the Cullen family, as strong and bright as the ones with her human father; the one with her mother was thinner, but not as thin as the one with Edward Cullen. I had no idea about what transpired between them, but I made a mental note to find out. I also saw the newborn bonds with the Volturi guards, and the already strong ones with my brothers, but then… There it was. The soulmate bond.

As soon as I looked at it, I realised what I had felt.

Felix's end of the bond was pulsing and the gold was twirling. He had recognised—and accepted—the bond.

I returned back to myself.

I had noticed Isabella was sleeping, so she probably hadn't felt what I did.

Felix had recognised the bond. My plans would have to be changed. He couldn't simply try to seduce her, or worse.

I had to speak with him.

* * *

**Did you like this first Special Chapter?**


	16. Chapter 16

BELLA'S POV

As we walked toward our suite, Rose, Alice and I were silent. I was pretty tired, and they probably could tell from my drooping eyes. And also by the fact that I tripped over thin air on multiple occasions.

"I've packed some nightwear for you, Bella" Alice tells me, as we cross the doors to our suite. She catches me again when I nearly trip on my feet for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, I know. I unpacked everything before the twins' arrival."

"That's good. Me and Alice still have everything inside our bags. We will unpack during the night" Rose informs me.

Alice places a hand on my shoulder. "Now go to sleep. Tomorrow we have to go shopping!" she smiles at my grimace.

"Must we?" I asked, yawning. She nods, "Yeah. Aro should have informed us of our invitation to the first ball, but apparently he decided to postpone the first ball after the Swearing Ceremony, after hearing yours and Marcus' reveal."

"So? Why are we going shopping if there's no need?" I frowned.

I walked inside my bedroom and picked up a white nightgown with see-though details. I frowned when I saw the expensive lace. Alice simply shrugged.

"Because," Rosalie said, "We need a proper dresses for the ceremony."

I scoffed—well, more like half a scoff and half a yawn—and said, "You and your fancy dresses."

They both laughed, before wishing me good night and going to their own rooms. I went to the bathroom, had a quick shower—being careful not to wet my hair—and brushed my teeth. I brushed my hair with the ivory hairbrush I found near the vanity and put on my nightgown.

As soon as my head hit the pillow—and what a damn soft pillow it was!—I passed out.

I had the strangest dream. I was swimming in pure, liquid gold. It twirled and enveloped me and it was warm. I felt comfortable in there. Suddenly I felt a new wave of warmth crash into my body and fill me with love and belonging.

I dreamt that beautiful feeling all night.

I was brutally ripped from my personal heaven by a certain pixie that started shaking me and urging me to get up.

"What do you want Alice" I mumbled, pillowing her in the face. She rips the soft pillow from my hands and throws it at my face.

"Get up! You have to tell us what the brothers told you about the ceremony! _Then_ we go shopping!" she squeals.

"What time is it?" I asked, my voice husky with sleep.

"7 am" I heard Rose answer. "7 am?! Are you crazy! It's too soon to be awake!" I complained.

"Well, you already are awake! Now get _up_!" Alice said, before grabbing my arm and lifting me into a seating position.

I cursed her and she stuck out her tongue at me. Rosalie entered my bedroom. She was holding a tray with food. "Here is breakfast" she said, before putting the tray in front of me.

Both her and Alice sat on her bed, and as she started eating the bread—which had a generous amount of honey on it—they started talking.

"So," Alice started, "The ceremony will take place tomorrow morning, at 10 am. All the Guard and the Masters will wear their formal attire, which means black and various shades of grey. Since you are the daughter of Marcus—and as such a Volturi Princess—you will wear black, also. I recommend a simple black dress, maybe with some kind of embroideries, but not much. No jewels, since they will give you your crown and the Volturi crest, and that will be enough."

"Make-up?" Rosalie asked. I inwardly grimaced.

"Not too much. I'd say a natural look. Some mascara, a bit of eyeshadow and some gloss."

"You telling me that _some mascara, a bit of eyeshadow and some gloss_ is not much?" I asked, exasperated.

"Trust me, you'll be perfect" Alice reassured me. I blew out a breath and gulped down some orange juice.

"What will we wear?" Rosalie asked Alice. Alice thought for a moment, then answered, "We'll watch from the sidelines, so we'll wear something simple, too. A shade of something pastel." They both nodded.

When I had finished my breakfast I asked Alice, "If you already knew all of this, then why did you woke me up?"

"So you could have your breakfast, your human time, and then we could go shopping. Your ceremony needs to be perfect, and I want to have many possible choices from which you'll pick your dress."

"Don't you already know?"

"Actually, I don't. Nor I know what mine and Rose's dresses will be" she shrugged.

Rose then clapped her hands. "Bella, go have your human moments, then prepare for an intensive session of shopping" she smiled. I rolled my eyes, and went to stand up.

Obviously I tripped on my feet and almost fell face first on the floor.

Alice managed to catch me just in time. "Need help?" she mockingly asked. I gave her the finger and she laughed hard, as I successfully entered my bathroom.

I eyed the enormous bathtub. It was big enough for three people. Yesterday I had been too tired, but today I was going to have a long, relaxing bath with some of the essential oils splayed on a wall of the bathroom. I went to fill the tub with hot water, and then I stripped myself.

I wrapped a black robe around my body and walked to the wall covered in shelves with essential oils. There was vanilla, strawberry, tangerine, citrus, eucalyptus, almond, mint, pinewood, salt… and countless more. One particular bottle caught my interest. It was made of glass, but it had pearls and gold decorations shaped like vines all over it. The cap was made of gold, as well. It looked old and precious.

I was almost afraid to touch it.

As the water filled up the tub completely I shook myself and chose another oil. I grabbed a bottle of green and white glass which had painted on it the word _Bergamotto_. I had no idea what that meant. I smelled it and liked it, so I placed the bottle on the edge of the tub and sank into the water.

As I washed myself, I kept thinking about the strange dream I had, felling warm and safe again as I had in that current of gold.

I finished and smelled myself. I had rubbed the oil on every inch of my skin and now I was shiny and smooth and perfumed.

Satisfied, I put back on my robe and went to my bedroom to dress myself. I quickly put on a black strapless bra and matching panties, and then I opened my armoire to choose something to wear. I grabbed my faithful pair of black jeans, a dark green sweater and my Converse. I donned my clothes and brushed my hair into a neat plait.

As I finished, as if on cue, a knock resounded on my door. "I'm ready!" I called, and went out. I saw both Alice and Rose waiting for me. "Let's go" Rose said, hugging my shoulders and guiding me out of our suite. She lightly smelled my skin and smiled, "Bergamot? Nice scent" she commented, and I muttered a thanks.

We managed to reach the private underground garage of the Volturi with me tripping only once. I'm almost proud of myself.

When we arrived there a lower guard with a light grey cloak stepped in our path. But before he could speak, Alice held up a hand and said "I talked during the night with Master Aro and he has granted me and my sisters the permission to borrow for the day one of the cars here. We wish to be given the keys of the Ferrari 488 GTB."

She pointed to a red car with tinted windows. Damn. That looked _fancy_.

The guard was still for a moment, before nodding and giving her the keys. He wished us a good day, before stepping aside, standing his initial position. We walked to the car. Alice went to sit in the driver's seat, while Rose sat in the back, and I in the front. Alice pressed something and the metallic door that was the exit to the garage began to open up.

"Ready sisters?" she asked, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"As we'll ever be" I answered. As soon as my words left my mouth, she pressed the gas pedal and we I was thrown back in my seat. I vaguely heard Rose cussing.

We were out in the open in a matter of seconds.

"Alice, for God's sake, slow down!" I shouted, seeing the scenery outside the car speed too fast for my liking.

Alice only giggled. "Don't worry, we won't crash and we won't even get a ticket."

My pleas fell on deaf ears. Alice kept driving like crazy until we entered a town, then she slightly slowed down. "Welcome to Pisa" Rosalie said, grinning to me. I smiled feebly in return. Alice drove us to a massive building. It looked expensive even from the outside.

Alice parked right outside the white edifice and stepped out of the car. For I moment I panicked—the light was so near her skin!—but then a massive cloud obscured the sun and we were safe. Alice smirked at me, sensing my fast heartrate, and I glared at her.

"A bit of notice would have been appreciated" I muttered, as we entered the building, Rosalie giggling beside me. "That wouldn't have been as funny" Alice replied, winking.

We crossed the glass doors and found ourselves in a nice waiting room. The two couches looked inviting. As soon as we entered, a female shop assistant came to us. She had a black bob and blue eyes. "Miss Alice Cullen, I presume?" she asked, with a beautiful Italian accent. Alice nodded, "You must be Annalisa, the one I spoke to on the phone."

The woman nodded. "We did as you requested, miss. All of our long black dresses are in a separate room. I have personally removed the ones that were too flashy. I also selected some pastel coloured gowns. They are this way" she pointed to a well-lit room at the end of one corridor.

"Thank you, Annalisa" Alice said, before putting one hand on my shoulder. "The black dresses will be for my sister Bella, the pastel gowns will be for my other sister Rosalie and myself. Can we start with our dresses?" she asked.

"Of course, please follow me." She led us toward the room she had pointed to earlier. The room was very big, with two tends covering what I assumed were two fitting rooms and an entire wall covered with a mirror. The room was occupied with dresses. Some were displayed on mannequins, some were simply hung on metallic rows.

I knew I was gaping, but I couldn't help it. All the dresses were so _beautiful_.

"Please, start your search. If you need anything, I'll be happy to help you" she said, and Rose and Alice shot immediately to the dresses. At human speed obviously.

I started pacing, too. I was looking at a light orange gown when I heard Alice squealing. "This is perfect!" she said. I walked to her side, followed by Annalisa. When we reached my jumping sister we saw that she was holding a lilac strapless gown with a flaring skirt. It was made of silk and had pearl details. "It's very pretty" I agreed. She smiled at me, "May I go try it?" she then asked Annalisa. The woman nodded and led her to one of the fitting rooms.

A few minutes later Rosalie had joined me in waiting for Alice to remerge. She was holding two gowns in her hands. "Can't choose" she explained, and I smiled at her, saying "We have all the time."

A minute later, Alice and Annalisa stepped outside. Alice looked beautiful in her dress. "You look stunning" Rose said, smiling. Both me and Annalisa agreed with a nod. Alice twirled and admired herself in the mirror, before squealing and saying, "This is the one! I'll take it."

Annalisa smiled, and they went back to change. "Miss Rosalie, you can start changing. I'll be with you in a moment" the woman said. Rosalie nodded and went into the other fitting room.

Alice and Annalisa emerged after a couple of minutes, with Annalisa placing the dress Alice chose on an empty golden table in the back of the room. Then she went inside to help Rose. Later, the curtains opened and revealed Rosalie, standing in a pale green mermaid velvet gown. It looked beautiful on her—hell, what _didn't_?—but her face wasn't ecstatic.

"It doesn't convince you, Rose?" I asked gently, and she shook her head. Annalisa nodded understandingly, "We'll try the other one then."

Sometime later, the two remerged again. Rosalie this time was glowing. She was wearing a cream coloured, halter neck, empire waist gown. The dress had no frills except for a pearl embroidery on her waist. "You look radiant" I told her, smiling. She grinned back at me.

"Will you buy it?" Alice asked her. She nodded, and then she went back to change.

After she was done, Annalisa placed her dress beside Alice's. "Shall we go choose Miss Bella's dress?" she asked. We all nodded, and followed her in another room. While we walked, I saw a clock. Shit, three hours had passed.

As we entered the room, my eyes were immediately caught by one dress. It was exposed on a mannequin, it was beautiful, simple and it would soon be _mine_.

I pointed to it. "That one."


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry for the late update! As you have probably figured out, I post randomly based on how often I can write. From 23th July to 6th August I'll be in Finland on vacation. I won't be able to post, but I'll make up for it, I swear.**

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FELIX'S POV

Demetri and Santiago had been gaping at me for three full minutes.

"Earth to you, guys. You ok?" I asked, even though I was still pretty shaken myself.

Isabella Swan, gifted human, Princess of the Volturi coven, with strong ties to the Cullen one, was _my mate_. It didn't felt real. I was humbled by the fact that fate had chosen her to be my companion.

"Bella's your mate?" Santiago asked, despite having heard me perfectly when I said that. I nodded and he rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn… you are one lucky bastard" he said.

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

Demetri snickered, returning from his gaping state. "He means that she is a beautiful, strong woman. She is a Princess, and has friends and family in the two most powerful covens in the world. As a human she's a Princess, but when she'll be turned she'll be—"

"A goddess" I breathed in awe, and they both rolled on the floor with laughter at my adoring face.

"I was gonna say badass Queen, but that will do, too" Dem snickered.

A knock rattled the door before it was pushed open, revealing two curious looking twins. "What's going on?" Jane asked, raising one eyebrow. Alec looked at us inquisitively.

"Bella is Felix's mate" Demetri and Santiago said at the same time, not bothering to keep their voices low.

"What?!" the twins exclaimed, and at the same time we could hear several thuds from the other rooms. In a second, my room was swarmed by several vampires, all gaping and flabbergasted.

Every one of the gang was here. Me, Dem, Santiago, Heidi, Renata, Jane, Alec, Chelsea and Afton. All of them were staring at me.

"She is" I confirmed.

A moment of silence and then—Jane and Heidi lunged themselves at me, hugging me tightly, Afton clapped me on the back, as did Alec, and Chelsea and Renata kissed me on the cheek, smiling brightly.

"I'm happy that you now have Bella" Renata said, "She's the right one for you."

"How can you know that?" I asked her, despite knowing it was true.

"Well, I don't really know. I simply know that she's the right one. I picture you two together and I see a happy couple" she smiled at me.

If I could have cried, I would have.

"Yes, yes. This is all nice and lovely, but we are forgetting that the girl is still attached to that Cullen shit" Chelsea said, pursing her mouth. She detested Edward Cullen more than the Romanians. And that was saying something.

Demetri clicked his tongue "I'm not sure. She gave him the cold shoulder when we were at the Cullen mansion, and she hasn't mentioned him once since coming here. She doesn't seem to miss him whatsoever."

"That's good. But don't expect her to fall at your feet, she is not that kind of woman" Heidi admonished me, and Chelsea added her own dose, "Yeah. And don't go all caveman-possessive-man on her. She'll grill your ass if you do."

How come they seemed to know _my_ mate more than I did?

A pang of jealousy shot through me. I wanted to have her all to myself. Suddenly, I felt a nasty slap on my head.

"WHAT THE FUCK CHELSEA!" I cursed. She simply glared at me, "You were thinking possessive just now" she narrowed her eyes at me.

I mumbled something unintelligible.

"I thought so. You better get in that thick skull of yours that Bella is her own guardian. She needs no one to take matters that concern her into their hands. If she'll ever need help, she'll ask. She doesn't need to be coddled. I have met her only once, but I can tell this much."

"Indeed you are right, young Chelsea" we heard a voice say from the door. We all turned and quickly scrambled to our feet to get in position as we saw Master Marcus standing right outside my doorframe.

"Master" we all greeted respectfully.

"Leave me and Felix alone, please" he commanded. Immediately everyone fled the room. There was only me and Marcus inside now.

He didn't speak, he simply walked toward a loveseat and sat on it, all the while staring at me. I remained standing. I was sure that if I had still been human I would have been sweating like shit.

"You realised it" he then said.

I almost asked what. But then I remembered his gift. Relationships' identification.

I sobered up at once. I nodded. His expression hardened. He straightened up and squared his shoulders.

"You do realise that, as her protector, I will not allow any harm to come to her. I will protect her and cherish her" he said, and I nodded again.

"This means that I will keep an eye on you, and if you do something even remotely inappropriate with her, or that could harm her physically or emotionally, I'll destroy you."

His words were spoken with an icy calm that promised me hours of torture.

My back was ramrod straight. "I would _never_ do something to harm her, Master Marcus. You have my solemn word."

He nodded. "I am here also to tell you that I won't condone any form of seduction or manipulation into the acceptance of the bond. It must grow naturally between the two of you, which is why I will not tell Bella of your bond. This is something the two of you must figure out."

"Yes, of course. I had no intention of forcing the bond on her."

"I will hold you onto that promise, Felix" he threatened, his eyes ablaze with a determination he had never showed before.

Then he stood up and straightened the lapels of his clothes. He walked to the door, but stopped before exiting. He turned around and faced me. "Isabella's bond with Edward Cullen is very faint" he said.

I swear I nearly felt my heart beat with joy.

"On her part at least" he continued, "Her end of the bond is faint and frail, breakable. I'm sure she's aware that he's not her mate. She's a clever woman. His end of the bond, however, is still strong. I'm afraid the boy could do something drastic if he comes to know of the bond you and Isabella share. Tread carefully."

After this admonishment he left, closing the door behind him.

A ray of light brightened the handle of the door. Looking outside the window, I noticed that the sun had already risen. I hadn't realised so much time had passed. I went to sit on my bed, thinking.

If Cullen tried anything, he would have to face the wrath of the entire Volturi coven, so I wasn't preoccupied. What gave me this feeling of uneasiness, was the prospect that my Bella would not recognise our bond.

_My Bella_. Damn, I had to calm down, I was moving too fast.

Back to the topic… She was still human, the pull wasn't as strong as a vampire's. But then again, she wasn't exactly a common case herself. Maybe she was different. Maybe she would recognise the bond even as a human.

I hoped so. I had just recognised the bond and I was already worn out because of the pain of being apart.

Suddenly, the pain intensified. It spread from my chest to my arms and legs, to my fingers and toes. It almost paralysed me. I groaned in pain. Instantly Demetri entered my room. "Bro, you okay?"

I simply shook my head, unable to speak.

"I think that's because Isabella has just gone out shopping with her sisters" Heidi said from where she appeared at the door.

"Lovely" I grumbled.

"You think you can get up?" Heidi said, "You and me are on guard duty today. We are in charge of the northern part of Volterra."

I nodded and forced myself on my feet. I didn't even realise that I had fallen, to begin with.

"I'm cool" I said. Lie, I felt like shit. I was hurting and pissy and in pain. But I had a job, and I had to do it. I sighed, and I followed Heidi in the city.

Hours passed and the pain didn't intensify nor it did dim. I performed my job, all the while rubbing my chest, trying to ease the soreness. At that point I wasn't even sure if the pain was only mental, because I swear, for fuck's sake my body hurt worse than during the change. And that was saying something.

Finally, the pain lessened. I sighed in relief. Bella was coming back to Volterra. To me.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello guys! I'm so terribly sorry for this delay! It's just that I went to Finland, had a great time, but came back with flu, fever and bronchitis. Now I feel better, still have a headache, but I should be able to post more often. I hope you'll like the chapter! WATCH OUT AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! THERE'S A SPECIAL CHAPTER PROPOSAL!**

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BELLA'S POV

We shopped for several more hours. Until my legs were going to collapse under my weight, and the one of all the bags I was carrying.

Finally, after having visited 24 shops, 3 boutiques and 5 jewellers, we somehow managed to fit all the bags in the car and head back to the castle. Despite my best efforts, Alice had still spent a huge amount of money, but this time surprisingly I didn't mind _that much_. The one thing that I found slightly displeasing was a dull ache in the pit of my stomach that didn't go away with lunch. I had no idea what that was, but as we drove back to Volterra, it dulled until it disappeared.

_Probably it's just tiredness_, I thought.

We arrived at the underground garage and parked the car. The same guy that gave us the keys this morning came to help us with the countless bags. He mumbled, "How much did you buy?" Rosalie just grinned. I answered "Too much" at the same time Alice said, "Just enough."

We reached our chambers in a relatively short amount of time, despite me tripping every now and then. The mountain of bags didn't help my coordination. We placed all the things in the middle of the living room.

"Have a good day, ladies. And good luck with that" he nodded to our purchases. We wished him a good day and he ran away from our suite.

Alice clapped her hands. "Very well, let's start! Most of the things are yours" she said to me, "But we will start with mine, then Rosalie's and then we'll deal with yours, alright?" she said. We nodded, and immediately jumped to work.

Alice had only bought a camisole, two bras and a lipstick. Rose had bought two pairs of shoes, three jeans, two bracelets and a pair of earrings. They had bought for me _everything_. Underwear, tees, sweaters, jeans, dresses, shoes, make-up, jewellery… _everything_.

It was well into the night when we finished. My stomach was mumbling. "I'll go get something to eat, I'm starving" I told them. They nodded and I walked out the suite, heading toward the kitchen.

While I walked I came across some vampires I recognised.

"Hi Demetri!" I greeted. He smiled and bowed to me, "Hello Princess Isabella" he said. I groaned, "Please, just call me Bella, Princess is too pretentious" I complained.

He smirked lightly. "But that's your title. Calling you 'Princess' is a form of respect toward you" he said.

"I can't change your mind, can I?"

"I'm afraid not, Princess."

I sighed, "Then, alright. I'm going to the kitchen, I'll leave you to your duties. Goodnight, Demetri" I said, waving to him.

He bowed, "Goodnight, my Princess."

I resumed walking, following the faint scent of food that helped me reach the kitchen.

I was almost entering the kitchen when I crossed paths with Heidi. "Hello, Princess Isabella" she greeted me, bowing.

"Oh, God. Not you, too" I mumbled, making a disconsolate expression.

She looked up, alarmed. "What, Princess?"

"Why is _everyone_ calling me 'Princess Isabella'?"

She looked confused. "Well… that's your title, and your name, so…"

I shook my head, "Well, I'd like to be called simply Bella."

She smiled, "I'm afraid we are not allowed. You are our Princess, and it's a form of respect using your title."

"That's the same thing Demetri told me" I said.

"Then he was right. For once in his life" she joked.

I smirked. "At least, call me Bella" I pleaded.

She thought for a moment, "Alright. That I can do" she smiled at me.

I smiled back "Great. can you let the others know of this change please?" I asked her.

She nodded and bowed. "Of course. Anything else?"

I shook my head gently, "No thank you, I was going to make myself some food now" I said, pointing to the kitchen doors.

"Very well. Have a good supper, Princess Bella" she said, and walked away.

I smiled to myself—'Princess Bella' didn't sound _completely_ bad, after all—and entered the spacious kitchen.

It was beautiful, new, polished and inviting. The stove was basically _calling_ to me. I quickly got to work and fixed myself some scrambled eggs with greens. The portion wasn't enormous but it was enough for me not to starve during the night.

I sat on the counter—I know it's bad manners, but who else used the kitchen anyway? No one could have seen me—and happily ate my meal. I was tired, but excited for tomorrow's coronation. Granted, it wasn't the official one, but I was excited nonetheless.

The decision to postpone the official coronation was made by Aro while we were shopping, and Alice had a vision. It had been quite tricky giving the shop assistant a plausible explanation for Alice suddenly zoning out, but we managed. We also decided that the dress I had originally spotted—the _beautiful_ one... Seriously, I was so in love with that dress, strangely enough—we would leave in the care of the store, not to be damaged or bought, waiting for the official coronation. I chose another one, and we purchased that instead.

I was thinking about the dress we had bought, when a screeching voice interrupted my thoughts.

"And what are _you _doing here?"

I turned, and there stood a woman I recognised as Gianna. Her hair were curled and piled atop her head, her body was barely covered by a white dress, and her face… well, not to be mean, but she looked like someone had punched her eyes due to all the purple eyeshadow she used. A purple that did not work well with the bright orange lipstick.

She was looking at me with disgust.

"Hello," I said, trying to be polite, "I just fixed myself some dinner."

"You are not allowed to stay here" she snapped back. Granted, she had been a little bit rude during our first meeting, but now she was plain bitchy.

Now, I might not have been an expert about royalty and all that bullshit, but one thing I _did_ know was that people are supposed to respect you and you can go everywhere you desire, in your home.

"I'm pretty sure I am allowed to do whatever I want, Gianna" I answered her, my words razor-like. now I realised why Rose and Alice had been so cold toward her.

Her laughter was obnoxious. "Ha. Please. You, allowed to do whatever you want. Don't make me laugh" she sneered, and walked toward me. I didn't back down an inch. "You are just a random girl. You are so plain, so… _meh_. You will probably be eaten."

Oh, this bitch was in for a world of pain.

I opened my mouth, ready to give her a very nasty piece of my mind, but then a man entered the kitchen at top speed. He planted himself in front of Gianna, hunching over her.

Not to protect her. Oh, hell no.

From the size I recognised the vampire to be Felix.

His voice sent goosebumps all over my body. _Very good_ goosebumps. His words to her were venomous and promised a slow, painful death.

"What the fuck did you just say to Princess Bella, you bitch?"

* * *

**HEY! Did you like the chapter? Gianna is a total bitch, but Felix will save us. Well, not that we need his help to kill that slut but it's nice to see him in action :) Anyway... WHO WANTS THIS SMALL TALK ALSO IN GIANNA'S POV? LET ME KNOW IN THE REVIEWS! Kissessssss :)**


	19. Chapter 19--Special

GIANNA'S POV

I knew that Master Caius had told me to leave—as rudely as he did the last time—but a quick snack was in my rights. Goddamnit, I served them all day. They owed me everything. Without me _nothing_ would be done in this place. I was _fundamental_.

As I was walking toward the kitchen, I heard someone. I stopped briefly. Who was in there? That was _my_ kitchen. When I had asked they said it was for that human, _Isabella_, but I knew they had put it for _me_. They just didn't want to admit it.

I marched in and saw her. Isabella.

"And what are _you_ doing here?" I asked. This random bitch thought she could steal _my_ _place_? Oh, hell no.

"Hello" she said, with a smile. What was she doing, trying to sugar-coat me? "I just fixed myself some dinner."

_She has used my kitchen?!_

"You are not allowed to stay here" I snapped.

If this whore thought she could do as she wanted, she was sorely mistaken. She was nothing: she was plain and ugly, she didn't even wear make-up. She was here just because Master Aro had a passing interest for her, nothing more. She would be dead before she could say a world.

I looked as she straightened up. "I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to do whatever I want, Gianna."

I laughed. Please, who did this bitch think she was? A princess? "Ha. Please. You, allowed to do whatever you want. Don't make me laugh" I sneered, walking toward her ugly form. She didn't back down, but I knew that in truth she was terrified and in awe of my beauty. "You are just a random girl. You are so plain, so…" for lack of a better word I said, "_meh_. You will probably be eaten."

It was the truth. She was so plain that nobody could have wanted her for her body. She was so mediocre! She didn't hold a candle to my perfect beauty.

She stared, glaring daggers at me. she was about to open her mouth, when a figure blurred in front of me.

I recognised it as Felix.

Oh, my Felix. He came to support me. Such a dear boy. I _knew_ he lusted after me. Well, to be honest, I was pretty sure that most of the guard lusted after me, I was just _that_ sexy.

However, my blood ran cold when I heard his words. "What the fuck did you just say to Princess Bella, you bitch?"

* * *

**I know it was pretty short, but don't worry, Gianna's ass will be kicked in the next chapter. Thoughts about her?**


	20. Chapter 20

FELIX'S POV

The bitch had reached the end of her worthless life.

How dare she talk to my mate—_the Princess_—that way?

She was trembling and whimpering apologies, but I was having none of it.

I grabbed her throat and lifted her, bringing her eye level with me. "You'll now come with us to the throne room and face your punishment, you got it little whore?" I snarled.

She whimpered, trying in vain to break free from my grasp. Worthless bitch.

"He asked you a question." I turned my head, finding Bella staring with malicious hatred toward Gianna. The words she spoke were confirmation of her support. My inner demon purred at having her on our side.

I released marginally the hold I had on Gianna's neck to allow her to speak. "Y-Yes" she chokes out. I immediately dropped her. The feeling of her skin on my hand was obnoxious.

She dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Fitting, since she had just the same appeal.

"Get your walking carcass up. We are going" I snarled. She quickly scrambled to her feet, holding her wounded throat with her hand. Despite her covering it, I could see that the skin under her hand was rapidly becoming blue, forming a hand-shaped bruise.

I should have felt bad—I usually never hurt women, apart from criminals—but this whack job hurt my mate and Princess so to hell with my conscience.

I held up my arm for Bella to take. She smiled, blushing—God, she's so fucking cute—and took it, coming to stand by my side. Where she belongs.

We walked to the throne room, keeping an eye on Gianna the whole way, and when we arrived Bella stepped forward and opened the double doors. Despite them being quite heavy for a human, she managed to open them with little effort.

"Ah, my dear niece. How can we help you?" Aro exclaimed, coming to kiss Bella's cheeks.

"Hello Uncle. Felix" she nodded to me.

Well, fuck me. She adapted to the role of Princess marvellously. I bowed to her and stepped forward, offering my hand to Master Aro. He immediately grabs it. As he watches my memories he looks at me with surprise and delight dancing in his eyes—probably due to the fact that Bella and I are mates—but then, his eyes suddenly become cold and menacing. He growls ferociously, turning to Gianna.

At that point Caius and Marcus had joined him in front of us. Gianna tried to avoid being touched but Master Aro grabbed her forcefully, and brought her to her knees. His chest was now emitting a constant growl.

"What, brother?" Caius snarled.

Aro wordlessly grabbed both of his brothers' hands and used a power few knew he possessed. He could also project certain thoughts through physical contact, just as he can read them.

A choir of snarls and growls erupted from the brothers, yet Bella's pulse remained normal. _Dang, that woman is amazing._

"How dare you" Caius snarled. "You useless carcass, you'll pay" Marcus added with a growl.

Gianna straightened her back and stared disbelieving first at Master Marcus, then at Bella. "That's not possible" she foolishly said.

An inhuman snarl tore its way out of Master Marcus' throat, echoing in the entire castle probably.

My idea was confirmed when immediately the throne room is full of alarmed vampires. The entire Elite Guard is here, as well and Bella's sisters. The guard went to stand in the typical formation, while the two Cullens were looking at Bella with worry.

"What's going on?" Rosalie breathed, and went with Alice to stand by Bella's side.

Bella shrugged. "Oh, nothing interesting. I was standing in the kitchen fixing myself some food, when this one" she poked Gianna in the head with her index finger, "marched in and told me I wasn't allowed to use the kitchen, then she laughed in my face, told me I was _meh_ and plain and just a random girl, then told me I'll probably be eaten" she said, counting the things she was telling on her fingers.

There was a moment of pure silence, before terrifying growls filled the silence. Every vampire's eyes turned black with fury, and some—me included—had venom foaming at the mouth. Gianna had dared disrespect a beloved member of our family, a royal, and she was going to pay dearly for her wrongs.

Caius stepped forward and hugged Bella. I was slightly jealous of the act, but then I remembered that Caius was mated and he was my friend, so he wasn't a threat to my mate. He told her, "You are nothing like this skank said, my dear. You are my precious niece and a beloved and esteemed member of our family. _She_ is just food." He sneered at Gianna.

The others snarled their consent.

Our soon-to-be-dead secretary tried to beg for her life. "Please, I beg you. I am useful! Turn me into a vampire and you'll see my worth!"

Was she _serious_? Really, now?

This bitch was so delusional.

The entire throne room burst out laughing an evil laughter. Bella had actual tears streaming down her cheeks and she was holding her stomach.

Master Marcus was the first to recover. "You delusional woman, you have no worth, both in this human form and in the vampire one" he told her with a cruel smile I had never seen upon him.

Bella went from Caius' arms to Marcus'. She relaxed in her father's hold, nuzzling in his chest as she yawned. She was so damn cute.

"My dear child, you are tired" he told her. She nodded, "A bit."

"Then we will postpone this worthless person's demise until you are better rested, my dear" he told her.

He then turned to me. "Felix, take Gianna in the dungeons, give her the uniform of the death row. Make sure she has nothing to eat or drink, and that she doesn't sleep. Demetri will help you guard her" he said, then added so low that Bella couldn't hear him, "You can practise psychological torture if you desire."

I smiled darkly at this, as did Demetri. Oh, we would be having a lot of fun that night.

Dem came forward, grabbing Gianna's left arm while I grabbed her right one, and we dragged her down several flight of stairs to the dungeons. Like requested, we removed all her clothes and dumped cold water on her body to remove the make-up. Every individual that stood in this part of the dungeons—the Death Row—had to be completely free of anything except the uniform provided by us. For the males it was a black pair of pants, and a white shirt. For the females, instead, it was a black long dress.

We forced Gianna into the dress and threw her in her cell, standing in front of her and making sure she didn't fall asleep.

Had she not been considered a criminal and had she not belittled my mate, I would have loathed myself with the treatment I was giving this woman. But at the moment I was just pissed and bloodthirsty.

Demetri and I stood in front of her cell the entire night, shaking the human awake every time she threatened to fall asleep. Morning came, and Jane came down and told us to drag the human back into the throne room, to be given a punishment by the ruling party of our world. An immense amount of pride shot through me when she listed the name of the judges.

Jane said, sneering at Gianna's trembling form, "You shall be given a punishment by the Royal Family of the Volturi: King Aro, King Caius, King Marcus and Princess Isabella."

I couldn't wait to see my beautiful Princess in action.


	21. Chapter 21

BELLA'S POV

After Gianna was removed from the throne room, my father—as I now called Marcus—hugged me one more time. "My beautiful daughter, you must not believe what that woman has said about you. You are perfect" he told me.

I smiled at him and at my uncles when they nodded their agreements. Aro smiled at me fondly when I yawned again, "Go, dearest. You are tired. We'll talk tomorrow, when you are better rested."

I nodded sleepily. Rose and Alice took one of my arms each and we began walking back to our suite, after nodding goodbye to everyone. We were almost arrived to our door when Alice spoke up. "What happened?" Curiosity was evident in her voice.

I briefed them on what happened and they, too, started growling lowly. "Girls, please. Gianna tomorrow will be dealt with so there's no need to go all batshit on the matter" I reprimanded.

"Sorry" they mumbled at the same time. That made me smile.

We reached the doors to the suite and entered. I noticed that the fire was, thankfully, lit and it was warm. I thanked my sisters for their courtesy when I entered my room and noticed that the fire was lit there also. I went on auto-pilot and changed into my night clothes and threw myself into bed.

That strange golden dream filled my night again, and I found myself waking up more rested than ever, despite having slept only six hours, as I noticed when I looked at the time on my phone. I yawned and stretched my muscles and immediately I heard a knock on the door. "Come in" I said drowsily.

Rosalie poked her head in, smiling when she saw me sprawled on the bed. "Hey, Bells. Did you sleep well?" she asked, and I nodded, rubbing my eyes to get rid of the last shreds of sleep. "That's good. I had some French toasts prepared for you for breakfast. They are on the table in the main room. Get ready and come there" she told me. I nodded again, and watched as she closed the door.

I eventually got up and combed my hair into a braid. I was too sleepy to take the initiative and change clothes so I just went outside wearing my PJ. I walked to the table where my breakfast was awaiting, and sat down. Rosalie and Alice waited for me to finish my meal before speaking.

"So, we need to discuss two things" Alice started, "The first, being Gianna's trial. It will be at half past eight, just before your coronation."

I tensed at that. I had completely forgotten my coronation.

"Second, there have been some developments back at home" she said. That got my attention.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Jasper and Emmett told Esme and Carlisle that you and Eddie are not mates and that your mate is here. They send you your congratulations and they wish you the best of luck. They called this night and we also told them of you and Marcus. They were beyond happy and so proud of you" Rose said, smiling. I smiled at that, too, warmth and affection for my family flooding me.

Then Rosalie's smile disappeared and her face was set in a scowl. "Then they told _Edward_" she snarled.

I straightened up at her tone. Something told me that shit was going to hit the fan, if it hadn't already.

"What happened" I asked, even though it didn't sound like a question.

Both my sisters started growling softly. "He didn't believe it. He went on a rampage, trying to come here and take you back to him. Jasper said he was going to use Charlie as a decoy for you" Alice said, and I gasped.

"No! Not Charlie!"

"Don't worry, the family was able to protect him. But that's not all."

_Oh, shit. Here comes the bomb._

"Jasper told us he has gone crazy. His mind is now set on only one thing: getting you back to him and making you his. And by that…" Alice hesitated for a moment, "By that, we mean making you his carnally and then draining and changing you. Binding you to him with the venom."

I was horrified.

I was remembering the gentle boy who talked with me in the meadow, who took me out to dinner and gave me presents I didn't need, and I was comparing him with the _monster_ my sisters were picturing. I found no similarity.

But, in truth, deep down I already knew something like that could have happened. I also recalled all the questions that assaulted me when I was running, trying to save his life, not so long ago. What could have changed?

The answer: nothing had changed, he was always like that. _Protecting me_. No, he wasn't protecting me. he was controlling me, and manipulating me. The only thing that now was different was me. I wasn't so dependent on him anymore. I didn't adore him as if he was a god.

So he revealed himself for the monster he truly was. A monster that would rape and kill me for his own pleasure.

"What is going to happen now?" I asked, my mind still reeling from the devastating information.

Rosalie sighed. "Unfortunately, the asshole managed to escape. The family chased him but they lost him in New York. They picked up again his scent in Mexico, but the trail was a few hours old, so he was already good and gone."

A shiver found its way through my bones. Rose immediately put a hand on my shoulder. "_Nothing_ is going to happen to you, Bella. I promise. We are here, the family is working on protecting Charlie and keeping you safe from home, you are also protected by the Volturi. You'll be safe" she said vehemently.

I believed her.

Suddenly, a knock rattled the door. "Princess Bella, Cullens. The trial is going to start in ten minutes. Please make your way into the throne room" a voice said.

Oh shit. We were late!

Alice jumped up. "We'll be along shortly."

Before I could say a word. Alice had me stripped, then she thrust a toothbrush into my hand and ordered me to wash my teeth while she worked on my hair and Rosalie dressed me. I obeyed, and diligently washed my teeth while Alice brushed my hair back from my face, letting them fall neatly on my back, and Rose put a simple black dress on me. It had no decorations, it had three-quarter sleeves and a square neckline, and it swished around my ballerina-clad feet.

Since Rose and Alice were already good to go, we were ready in just four minutes.

A lower guard escorted us to the throne room and when we entered I was greeted by my father and uncles. "Good morning, my daughter" Marcus said. I smiled at him and went to hug him when he held his arms open. Caius nodded at me with a smile while Aro kissed my cheek affectionately. "Is everyone ready?" he then asked the room. Everyone nodded. "Then go fetch the prisoner, please."

I didn't see who went out, as I was accompanied by my father toward a new, smaller throne that was right beside Marcus'. "What the—" I started, but Caius interrupted me. "Every Princess needs a throne" he winked, and I giggled while Marcus helped me in the throne. It was very comfy and it gave me a strangely enormous amount of pride to sit in.

Soon after we all took our places—the guard and my sisters lined the walls while me and the Kings sat on the thrones—Gianna was brought in, flanked by Demetri and Felix. Both smiled slightly when they saw me in the throne, but their smiles turned into full sneers when the dropped Gianna at our feet.

Aro wasted no time. "Gianna. We have all the evidence to condemn you to death sentence. Do you have something to say in your defence?"

The woman simply started crying and begging for forgiveness and swearing that she was useful and yada yada yada. Pathetic.

After some minutes, Caius snapped—I had a feeling he wasn't the gentlest person, at least with others—"Cease your pleas, you worthless woman."

Even ever-cheerful Aro was annoyed. "We shall not grant you mercy" at that, Gianna's cries became _wails_, "Now, we shall decide your sentence and deliberate."

He then turned and walked behind his throne. Caius got up and followed, also, as did Marcus. I rose, too. I had no idea where we were going or what was going to happen now, but I followed them anyway.

We walked into an elegantly furnished room. A fire was burning placidly in a fireplace in the corner and several lavish recliners occupied the space. Aro sat on one, Caius and Marcus sat on a two-seats one and chose to seat in the recliner nearer Marcus. He held my hand while we discussed. I listened raptly while they proposed different death sentences. Beheading, draining, hanging, burning… there were so many!

I knew I should have been disgusted, but I was the daughter of a policeman: justice was justice, and if her behaviour earned her a death sentence, I would stand aside and let the justice take its course.

At one point, though, my evil side took control of me, and I said: "Why not give her what she wants?"

Everyone turned to look at me, "What do you mean, dearest?" Aro asked.

I smirked, "She wants to be a vampire? Well, then. Change her. Let her feel the pain and burn of the change. Then" I said, before Caius could interrupt me, "Let Jane have some fun and eventually burn her piece by piece, just as you would do with any other vampire criminal."

The room was silent for a moment, then the Kings grinned evilly. "My dear, I knew you would fit in with us just fine" Caius smirked at me.

I laughed, "Thank you, Uncle."

"Now, let us go deliberate" Marcus urged us. We all rose and went back to sit in our respective thrones.

Aro spoke. "Princess Bella has thought of a fitting punishment for you, Gianna. But first…" he gestured for Felix and Demetri, and they dragged Gianna's wailing form in front of him. He bent and bit her neck, injecting his venom in her system. Everyone gasped, as Gianna started screaming in pain the next second.

Aro simply licked his lips and said, "Leave her under the surveillance of some capable guards. When she wakes, she is not to be fed, and Jane can avenge part of the wrong this woman did to our dear Bella. Then, Felix and Demetri, you are to burn her piece by piece. As my niece commanded" he then smiled at me.

Jane, Felix and Demetri were all smiling like kids on Christmas day. "With pleasure" they said, and then bowed. Demetri nodded at someone and three lower guards came forward, dragging Gianna away.

As soon as the doors were closed, a shout resounded in the room. "_NO_!" It was Alice.

Rosalie turned to her, worriedly, and I flew out of my throne and ran in front of her. Her eyes were glazed and she seemed in a sort of trance. She was having a vision.

"Alice!" I shook her, and she came out of her trance.

She was panting and her eyes were black with barely restrained fury.

I was instantly flaked by Demetri and Felix on either side of me. She snarled only one thing, but that was enough for me to shiver.

"_Edward_."


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry for the eternal wait!**

**TO _SCARLETT WOMAN_! Thank you for your review! I have planned already a few other Twilight fics, one of 'em is MarcusxBella. So don't worry, you'll have what you desire! You just wait! Ps. None of my fictions will ever picture a weak/broken Bella (and if they do it will be just for a few moments), nor will they be filled with broken angst. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy my fic even though it's not a MarcusxBella fic!**

* * *

FELIX'S POV

What the fuck?

Bella gasped, and as soon as the seer snarled the mind reader's name, my mate was immediately surrounded by myself, the Kings and the Cullens. What the hell did that pussy do?

Nothing good, it seemed.

"Young Alice, what did you see?" Aro asked, his voice fervent.

Alice snarled again, then said "Edward joined forces with Victoria and her newborn army to get back Bella."

"Who is this Victoria?" I asked.

"She's a redhead bitch. She was mated to James" Rosalie answered me, and I growled. Ah, _James_. The one who bit my Bella.

"And now she's set on vengeance. She agreed to help Edward just because she thinks he will let her torture Bella."

At that everyone in the room snarled. I saw a tremor run up Bella's body. Apparently Marcus noticed, too, because he enveloped her in a hug. "Don't worry, my daughter. Nothing will happen to you" he promised, and he was completely right. No one would harm my mate.

"Carlisle and Esme are going to stay near your home to protect Charlie, in case they decide to use him as leverage. Jas and Emmett are coming here. In two hours they'll be here" Alice announced.

Aro looked at Demetri and Santiago. "You two will pick them up at the airport, is that clear?" he asked, his voice harder than usual at the idea of Bella getting hurt.

They both nodded.

"Bella, what are you thinking about?" Alice then asked. All our gazes turned to Bella, who had a resolute expression on her face.

She looked up at her face, then turned to Marcus and the other two kings. "I want to be changed" she announced.

For a moment there was absolute silence. My instincts screamed at me to immediately bite her and make her mine, but I fought them. The kings wouldn't have appreciated.

"What? Why?" Caius asked.

"I already wanted to be changed sooner or later, but now with this threat I have more reason to do this now rather than later. If I'm human, I'm vulnerable" she explains, and her reasoning is flawless.

"I don't want you to change just because of this mess. If you aren't ready, then we should wait" Marcus told her.

"I know. but I'm not doing this just for the situation I'm in. I'm ready, I want to do this now" she answered, her gaze full of fire.

She was so goddamn beautiful.

"Please Father, Uncles" she pleaded, giving them her best puppy eyes. And damn, those were some good puppy eyes. I looked at the Kings and by the look on their faces knew she had won.

Caius sighed, "Very well, my dear. You'll be changed this even—" he started, but then Bella interrupted him.

"No. Now. I want to be changed now. We don't have time to spare" she then looked at Alice. The seer nodded, "The army of newborns will be here in a week's time."

"See! We don't have much time!" she exclaimed.

"Bells, are you sure…" Rosalie asks.

"Yes!" she replies, and the conviction in her tone makes me admire her even more than I already did.

Marcus sighed. "Very well. You'll be changed now. I'll personally change you, as my daughter" he added, and I was slightly disappointed and angry.

She was _my_ mate. I wanted _my_ venom to run through her veins.

"Okay" she replied.

"Then, I'll go for a hunt while you change. This last vision drained me. Is that going to be fine?" Alice asked Bella, and she nodded.

"Sure. Take your time" she said.

The seer smiled and bent to kiss her cheek, before vanishing out the throne room. Bella then sighed dramatically. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands impatiently.

We all laughed at her antics.

She ignored us and marched out the throne room, followed by myself and the kings, as well as Rosalie. We walked to their suite and Bella ordered all of us except Rosalie to wait outside. "I want to be fresh, clean and perfumed when I go through the change. Which is why I'm gonna take a shower" she told us, then she entered her bedroom tailed by her sister.

We all waited, listening to the sound of water, then the hair-dryer, and finally clothes being put on. I tried my very best not to imagine her naked—I wasn't doing very well, but at least my soldier wasn't standing at attention… if you know what I mean.

The only words were uttered by Aro. "So I guess we won't have a ball" he muttered, and went to say more, but was immediately shut up by the glares of his brothers.

When Bella remerged again she was wearing a grey tank top and a pair of burgundy sweaters that fit her perfectly. I almost drooled. Her long mahogany hair were perfectly straight and lucent. Her alluring scent of freesias and jasmine was enhanced by an oil that smelled of honey. She. Was. Perfect.

"Very well, " Caius said, "It is time."

He and Aro went to hug affectionately Bella, and then they left the suite. Only me, Marcus and Rosalie were left. Bella looked at the three of us with a indecisive expression. Then her gaze locked with mine and I got momentarily lost into her beautiful eyes.

"Shall we get started?" she said, still looking at me.

"Of course" I breathed back.

Marcus was glaring daggers at me—ever the fierce protector—and the blonde Cullen was smiling. Bella took a deep breath, and suddenly a look of determination crossed her face. "What is it?" I asked her, immediately noticing her shifted expression.

Her voice was strong as she said "I want you to be the one to change me."

Silence.

My heart swelled with love and happiness for this incredible woman.

She wanted me to change her! She wanted my venom in her veins!

I inwardly rejoiced like a boy on Christmas day.

"Your wish is my command" I half-joked.

She smiled back at me, then offered me her hand. I immediately put mine in hers and her warmth made me almost sigh in happiness. Almost.

She hugged both Marcus—who shot me a look that promised torture if something went wrong—and Rosalie, then she guided me in her bedroom. Red was predominant in this room, and she almost blended in with her burgundy sweatpants. The sheets had been recently changed and were smooth black silk that reflected the light as she lied down in the middle of the mattress.

She then looked at me with a small smile. "Ready?" she asked with a sweet voice.

"I should be the one asking that" I smiled softly.

She giggled, and the sound was music to my ears. "It's just three days, not that bad" she said.

She was so fucking strong.

"Alright then. Relax, it'll be fine" I told her. Her smile lit her eyes up as she looked at me with such intensity my knees wobbled.

At that moment I was a hundred percent sure that I was her mate, but we would have talked after her change. My Princess wanted me to change her, and change her I would.

I caressed her hair and bent forward. I gently inhaled her delicious scent. I felt no bloodlust, only endless love. I kissed her pulse, and felt her sharply inhale. I chuckled and then I kissed her neck again, before plunging my teeth into her. I took a gulp of her heavenly blood before injecting as much of my venom as possible, then I sealed the wound with my venom. I did the same thing with her wrists and ankles.

I waited worriedly for her screams, but she didn't even whimper. After some minutes Marcus and Rosalie came in, wondering why there was so much silence. They, too, were surprised that Bella seemed to be sleeping peacefully rather than facing the pain of the change.

Nineteen minutes and seven seconds later a very frantic Alice burst through the door. Immediately everyone was up and ready to face a possible threat. I instinctively bent forward to cover my mate with my body.

"No! What the hell happened, why did she change her mind!" she rambled.

"What are you saying, Ali?" Rosalie asked worriedly.

The seer was panting as she looked at my Bella. She said, "As soon as she decided to be bitten by Felix, I stopped seeing her future. I can't see her anymore! With Marcus everything would have been fine, but now…"

She ran a hand through her spiky hair. "Now I can't see my little sister anymore" she looked so inconsolable.

We all were bewildered at that. We remained is silence for God knows how long.

Until—

"Worry not, people. She'll be fine. More than fine, if I have to be completely honest with ya." an unknown voice proclaimed cheerfully.

We all turned to see Major Whitlock, Emmett Cullen and two unknown figures standing just outside the threshold. Alice and Rosalie went to greet their mates, while the other two grinned at Bella changing figure.

"Who are you, pray tell?" Marcus growled at them.

Both straightened up and the male said with a Southern twang, "Capitan Peter Whitlock and Lieutenant Charlotte Whitlock, at yer service."

Oh, God. They were the Major's allies and friends during the Southern Wars. What they were doing here?

As if reading my mind, Captain Whitlock said, "So, I heard there is a battle coming."

* * *

**DO YOU WANT A SPECIAL CHAPTER WITH ALICE'S VISIONS DISAPPEARING? REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW!**


	23. Chapter 23--SPECIAL

ALICE'S POV

I was hunting. I had smelt a deer a couple miles away and followed the trail. After I drained the tasty animal—despite my family's opinion that herbivores taste terrible, I liked them—I smelt another trail, and followed it. After having my refill, I started walking back to the castle.

I took my time. I wanted to admire the beautiful landscape Italy had to offer. Halfway to the castle, I was suddenly hit with a vision. Or so I thought.

Instead of seeing something, my mind replayed every single vision I had about Bella, even the ones that already became reality, and blurred them. I gasped. The visions weren't simply blurring. They were disappearing completely.

At first, they just lost colour. Then they became darker, then they blurred and the forms and shapes became unintelligible. They became blacker by the second, and eventually completely disappeared. My mind was left blank, full of every other vision except those about Bella.

The battle with the newborns I could still see, but not in its entirety. I couldn't see the outcome.

I ran back to the castle as fast as my legs could bring me. I didn't even bother to hide from the humans, I was running so fast their eyes couldn't see me. I ran through the streets of Volterra, then in the halls of the castle. I didn't even bother to greet Master Aro and Caius, who were quietly reading in the throne room.

They both looked up when they saw me bursting through the wooden doors. "What's wrong, young one?" Aro asked, standing up from his throne, followed closely by Caius. I didn't bother acknowledging them, but I did breathe one word, and that was enough for them to run behind me to my sister's rooms.

"_Bella_!" I said.

We ran through the castle, reaching the suite I shared with my sisters. I burst through the doors to my sister's room, finding Marcus, Rose and Felix there, along with a silent Bella who was undergoing the change. Why was she so silent?

Immediately everyone was up and ready to face a possible threat. Felix bent forward to cover Bella with his massive body. Theni understood, _he_ had changed her. Not Marcus as planned.

"No! What the hell happened, why did she change her mind!" I rambled.

"What are you saying, Ali?" Rosalie asked me worriedly.

I was panting—despite the fact I didn't need air—as I looked at my changing sister. "As soon as she decided to be bitten by Felix," I said, "I stopped seeing her future. I can't see her anymore! With Marcus everything would have been fine, but now…"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Now I can't see my little sister anymore" I said, despair covering my words.

They all were bewildered at that. The room remained in silence for God knows how long.

Until—

"Worry not, people. She'll be fine. More than fine, if I have to be completely honest with ya." an unknown voice proclaimed cheerfully.

We all turned to see my Jazzy, Emmett and two very familiar vampires standing just outside the threshold. Me and Rosalie went to greet our boys, while our two friends grinned at Bella's changing figure.

"Who are you, pray tell?" Marcus growled at them.

Both straightened up and the man said with his Southern twang, "Capitan Peter Whitlock and Lieutenant Charlotte Whitlock, at yer service."

Felix was shocked.

Peter grinned, "So, I heard there is a battle coming."


	24. Chapter 24

**Sorry for the long wait! Only a few more chapters to go!**

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BELLA'S POV

I was pleasantly surprised.

When Felix bit me, I had been sure I would experience the same devastating burning sensation that I felt when James bit me. Instead, I found myself feeling like sleeping for years.

As the venom started travelling in my veins, I relaxed on the bed. Who would have thought that I could have relaxed during my transition? Not me, that's for sure. Instead of burning, I felt a relaxing calmness everywhere the venom went, and, even though I could feel myself changing, there was no pain to indicate that it was actually happening.

Not that I was complaining.

At one point I wanted to move—to find a more comfortable position—but found that I couldn't. I could not open my eyes, not move, not make any facial expressions or any sounds. I was still as stone. That annoyed me slightly, but then something else grabbed my attention.

There were voices. I heard them speaking near my body. They were in the same room I was staying in. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I recognised some of the voices—Felix and Alice's, maybe even Rose's.

Then a voice I didn't recognise, then some other voices I recognised but had to be imagining. Jasper and Emmett couldn't be here. I was just imagining things.

They talked some more, then they fell silent. After a while I grew bored, so I decided to think about my memories so that they would be embedded in my brain even as a vampire. Rosalie told me to do that so that I didn't lose my memories, something that could actually happen during the change.

I focused on all the memories I had, good and bad. I didn't want to lose _anything_.

As I reached the end of recalling my second year of middle school, I felt myself being cocooned in something warm. I tried to imagine what could it be, but I only managed to realise that it was something that came from _inside_ of me.

I tried to figure out what the feeling was, but I could only feel it kind of swirling inside me, almost as if it was rising from somewhere deep inside me, and coming to the surface.

I returned to my memories, all the while taking notice of the strange sensation I felt. I recalled all the times I fell, all the times I saw someone smile. I recalled meeting the Cullens, the encounter with James and his coven, the brief period of depression before I gathered my life back together when Eddie left. I remembered seeing Alice again, then coming to Volterra to save him, just to come back later as a guest.

I committed to memory my family's faces—both human and vampire—and then I recalled Felix biting me.

When I reached that particular memory I felt a warm tingling spreading through my body, starting from my stomach. Suddenly I was thrown into a dimension of liquid gold. My eyelids were closed but all I could see was gold. It was everywhere.

I noticed that I was the same gold I had seen in my dreams. This time, though, it was like a flow. Its swirls flowed in one direction, almost as if it was a path. I decided to test my theory—I had time after all—and tried mental-walking in the direction I saw the gold flow to. It was easier than I thought.

Immediately I found myself swimming into that warm, familiar gold liquid, and after a while I abruptly stopped. Instantaneously I felt myself being kind of sucked into something. When I could suddenly see from another person's eyes, I realised that something was another's body. More precisely, if the height and point of view was any indication, Felix's.

As soon as I though the name, a heap of memories played in my head. I gasped when I recognised what they were. I saw Felix as a child, I saw him training, growing up, falling in love and then grieving when the girl died of an illness. I saw him as a Roman soldier fighting under Caius Caesar's command, killing the enemies and learning their ways. Then another wave of memories hit me. he was in a dark alley of Rome, and he suddenly felt a sharp pain. I gasped when the memories showed me that he had been pierced in the back with a sword.

I saw him getting changed, I saw his newborn years and felt his pride while he raised in the ranks of the Guard.

The more recent memories surprised me. He found me _beautiful_. I attracted him. How could that be? I found my answer a mere second later. My answer was a word that resonated through me.

Mate.

I was his mate.

He was mine. My _mate_.

I fought the shock that was threatening to overwhelm me, and kept exploring his memories. I saw that Emmett and Jasper were actually here, along with a certain Captain Whitlock and his mate. Felix held them in high regards, but I didn't see why.

Suddenly, I was thrown back in my body. Not my physical body, but I was back in my own dimension, if I could call it like that. This time, apart from the golden thread that linked me to Felix—my mate—there were other bonds.

I travelled through all of them: the bright blue one connected me with Marcus, and there I saw his life as I did with Felix's (Marcus' was just longer); the bright green one led to Alice; the purple one to Rosalie; the red one to Emmett and the orange one to Jasper. I saw their lives, and mourned for the injustices and brutality they had experienced in their lives, but I rejoiced when I realised that they were now happy.

I was incredibly surprised when, walking down a pure and bright white path, I found myself looking at Charlie's memories. I was so deeply moved when I realised the love he held for me, and I wished I could hug him one last time. I knew that now that I was a vampire, there was no possibility of him seeing me again, but I was happy to know he loved me that much nonetheless.

I also saw Carlisle's past—down a light blue bond, and Esme's—a pale pink one, Caius'—dark blue, and Aro's—deep green.

I wasn't that surprised when I discovered I had no bond whatsoever with my mother—after all, I had always taken care of her and the house while trying to stay afloat myself. I had never gotten the chance to be a kid, instead I had had to endure her constant quirks, her passion for spending money—even when there wasn't any—and her sometimes creepy boyfriends. It was sad to say, but Renee was scatter-brained at her best and neglectful at her worst. She couldn't keep a job and so I decided to get some small jobs myself to pay the bills, because she couldn't. Sometimes she even left me at home alone while she went on trips with her then boyfriend. When I started to grow my womanly curves I had to go commando for some time because we didn't have the money to afford new underwear for me. Often I had to hide the money I had earned from her or she would use it for her own fun and shopping, while I starved and went days without food, warm water or even electricity. Why the social services never intervened I didn't know.

I held no love for my mother and I certainly wasn't going to spend my change thinking about her sorry ass.

I repeated the process of reviving my memories a couple more times before I, incredibly, fell asleep.

When I woke up, I realised my senses were so much more strong and perceptive than usual. My transformation was nearing the end then. I mentally searched for somebody, but I wasn't able to find anyone. That preoccupied me, but not as much as the sudden surge of power that came through me did.

I felt fire run through my veins, but not in a painful way. It was a warm, familiar and empowering feeling that I welcomed. Then I felt water, then air and after that I felt something that brought at the forefront of my mind the earth. Lastly I felt something akin to liquid metal.

At first I didn't realise what it could have been, but as I laid there, still as stone, an idea flashed in my mind. Maybe it was an elemental power.

Damn it would have been so _cool_ if it was!

But then, what was that strange thing that allowed me to see the memories of my family?

A vampire couldn't have more than one power, right? That's what I was told. But, then again I had also been told that I was Fuckward's mate. And thank God I wasn't. So who knew, maybe I'd be the first vamp ever with more than one power. _Badass Bella is coming, bitches! Ahahaha!_

I laid there, still, for only God knows how long. Then I felt the sleepiness recede. Sounds started to reach my ears better, and I also discovered I could move my fingers and wrists if I concentrated hard enough. This receding lasted quite a while, and in the meantime I realised that this was the change finishing. I heard more and more every passing second, and by the time the change completed I was worried sick.

The sounds I was hearing were quite near—I'd hazard a guess and say they were coming from the very castle—and they were roars, snarls and limbs tearing.

A battle.

I quickly got up, momentarily stunned at my speed. I had no time to marvel my new body, tho. I had to check what was going on.

I ran outside, not even bothering to acknowledge the fact that I didn't feel an ounce of thirst, and followed the sounds. I was utterly shocked when I happened to pass by the table where I had left my phone before undergoing the change. It had a lot of messages and unanswered calls, but what him me was the date.

My change had lasted _seven days_!

My mind—which fortunately held all of my human memories—did a quick calculation and I snarled when I realised.

My family, my Father, my goddamn _mate_ were fighting against Fuckward and Victoria.

I ran to the throne room, where all the mayhem was coming from, and what I saw had me releasing an inhuman roar and launching myself in the fray.

_I'm coming at ya, motherfuckers._


	25. Chapter 25

**Only two more chapters to go! Please, review!**

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FELIX'S POV

I was worried sick.

Bella's change had been going on for seven days now. Seven. Fucking. Days.

Something like this never happened before, and the entire castle was worried. Aro had searched in every book he owned but found nothing—he even tried calling Carlisle to see if he knew something useful, but even the Doctor was of no help.

We all took turns watching over Bella while she changed. Me, Marcus, Alice, Rosalie, Caius, Aro, the Major and the Emmett guy. The seer still couldn't see anything, and that only added to my worry. I didn't know what to do, I felt helpless.

At some point, I felt some kind of strange feeling in my head, and I got bits here and there of my memories, both human and vampire. Where the hell did they come from? When I asked, the others also claimed to have felt the same sensation, and at that point it was clear that it was Bella the responsible for that shit.

But how could she do that? Why was she still changing? Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt her? Did I—

"Felix!" Jane hurriedly barrelled through the door, "They're here!"

I growled at her—she had come near my Bella—but then her words registered. "So soon?"

She grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the throne room. "It's time! They'll be here in three minutes, we need to be ready" she said.

When we arrived to the throne room we saw that everybody else was already in position. We had trained endlessly for the last seven days, with the Major, his Captain and his mate, we had thought about how to best destroy them and we had come up with a formation. And we even had a secret weapon.

I glanced sideways at the growling newborn with pitch-black eyes. Venom was leaking from her mouth and she looked positively murderous.

Gianna's clothes were still those she was condemned in, and they were torn to shreds. They barely covered the essential parts. It was the Captain's idea to use her as a weapon. Charlotte and him taught her the basics, but nothing more. She was meant to destroy, not defend.

I refocused on my surroundings when I heard the sound of feet rapidly coming our way. "Forty newborns plus Edward and Victoria. They will try to separate us into smaller groups, _don't let them_" the seer informed us. We all nodded to show we understood.

Dem came beside me, squaring his shoulders. "Ready for the battle, brother?" he grinned.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"How's Bella? Still changing?"

I sighed, "Yeah, she is still unconscious. I truly hope she's okay."

He clapped me on the shoulder, "She will be, she is a strong woman."

Then he turned toward the snarling and roaring sounds. The army was closing on us.

"Everybody ready?" Major Whitlock asked.

"Yes, sir!" we all answered in a chorus.

He smirked as he said, just before releasing Gianna to destroy the first line of their army, "Let's raise hell, then."

Then he released her.

She shot forward, snarling and hissing, and she ran into the first line of their army. We all waited a few moments before joining the fray.

I roared before slamming into a newborn's side. I grabbed her arms and tore them off, then did the same with her head. I couldn't see Edward or Victoria anywhere. The pussies were hiding, huh? Cowards. But then again, if I were the one to face a furious mate like they were, I'd have hid, too.

I relished in the clash of bodies, the roaring of my companions, the death of our enemies. In my human life I had enjoyed fighting and I enjoyed it even more as a vampire. And the cherry on top of the cake was that I was fuelled by the need to avenge my mate. My beautiful, strong, stunning mate.

I tore through enemies carelessly, my mind searching for only one thing—_Edward fucking Cullen_.

We had been fighting against the newborns for all of a twenty minutes—tearing limbs apart, beheading and burning bodies, ensuring not to fracture into smaller groups—when I heard an almighty roar. It resonated on the stone walls of the throne room, and I could have sworn a few stones and windows rattled.

Everybody froze in fear. The sound was so deafening and terrifying that it could have scared the bravest of creatures. Even the Kings were scared shitless.

I slowly turned my head to look at the provenience of the sound and my eyes saw an earthly vision. Some said us vampires don't have souls, but this was an angel for sure. Or a goddess.

_My_ goddess.

Every head turned to her when they heard my gasp. They, too, were shocked. Bella looked glorious.

Her body—already beautiful and curvy as a human—had been transformed into something even more beautiful, her hair—before long al luscious, with countless shades—was now so long it reached past her hipbones and its shades were even more bright. Her skin was pale and flawless, shimmering in the sun, and her eyes…

Her eyes were _astounding_. Instead of the traditional bright red that newborns possessed, my mate's eyes were a beautiful, shining platinum colour. They were stunning.

And they were emanating pure fury.

A yelp made us refocus again on the battle. A newborn had sneaked up on Gianna and tore her arm out. She tried to fight back but she was quickly disposed of. Her death made us all spur back into motion. We took up again killing newborns.

A few seconds later, when there were only thirteen of them left, the walls trembled again. This time stronger than before.

No one had time to do anything before what looked like branches and roots spurted out of the stone. They dove for the newborns and encased them. We all turned to Bella: she was glaring at the newborns and holding one open hand in front of her. She was doing _that_? Holy hell!

She sneered at the whimpering vampires before abruptly clenching her fist. The plants responded and dismembered the screaming filth. It was over in less than 3 seconds. Bella snapped her fingers and the still existing dismembered bodies were set aflame. They were ash immediately.

The roots and branches retreated a bit, but still hung near her body. Then she looked up. When her eyes met mine, she growled one word—one word that made me rejoice with my entire self.

She ran to me saying, "_Mine_."

When her body collided with mine, my world was complete. It was perfect, marvellous, warm and even more perfect.

But then my life is not my life is something doesn't ruin every good moment.

In this case it was a voice. A male voice. Edward Cullen's voice.

"Love" he said, holding one hand out to Bella.

She turned to him, and for one second I thought she would go to him, but then I shook my head. This was my Bella we were talking about. She was going to kick his pansy ass.

True to herself, Bella growled. Let me tell you, it was sexy as fuck.

"Where is your whore? Where is Victoria?" she spat.

Edward ignored her and stepped forward. It was my turn to growl. He glared at me. "Don't you dare glare at my mate asshole!" Bella snarled.

Fuckward laughed loudly, "He's not your mate, my love. I am. Come to my, my beauty, and we shall deliciously consume our mating bond" he said, and I saw him leer at my mate's body with far too much lust for my liking.

I growled, "Stay away from my mate, boy, or you'll find yourself relieved of your head _permanently_."

Bella giggled. Did she find the thought amusing? I sure as hell did.

"Don't threaten me!" he yelled with his heinous voice, and I rolled my eyes. Was he going to throw a tantrum?

"I will ask this again, Fuckward. _Where is Victoria_?" Bella roared, growing tired of his behaviour.

"I killed her" he said, pathetically puffing his chest out, "I killed her because she was a threat to you, my love. Now come, we need to consume—"

"Do not finish that sentence!" she yelled, "The mere thought of touching you is revolting, do not plant the image of you and me together in my head or I'll vomit!"

Everybody guffawed loudly. I had almost forgotten we weren't alone.

Fuckward looked abashed. "B-Bella! How could you say something like that!"

Bella didn't bother with a verbal response, instead she tensed her fingers. Spikes of ice shot up from the floor and pierced his skin. He shouted in pain and begged her to stop, but she didn't. The ice kept growing and spreading until his entire body was frozen. Then she did something that had my jaw drop to the floor. She cracked her knuckles, and simultaneously Edward crumbled into tiny little pieces of ice.

Fuck.

My girl was powerful as hell.

Nobody dared speak. They stayed silent until Bella looked at them funny and said, "What?"

Everybody unfroze and surrounded her, Marcus was the first to reach us and Bella momentarily left the comfort of my arms to hug him. "My beautiful daughter," he breathed, "You are magnificent."

"Thank you Father," she said, kissing his cheek. Then she went to hug Caius and Aro. They were just as happy to see her safe and sound after her strange change. "You had us worried, my dear" Caius said, caressing her cheek. I grinned, my girl had totally melted his heart. He spotted me grinning and glared at me. I laughed.

Then she greeted the Elite Guard, hugging fiercely everybody, and even kissed a few cheeks. Then she flew into her sisters' arms. Rosalie and Alice hugged her and kissed her cheeks, complimenting her on her powers and beauty. Then the Major and Emmett came forward.

"Belly-boo!" Emmett grinned, opening his arms. Bella squealed excitedly and jumped in his arms, as he gave her a massive bear hug. "God, I missed you so much Emmy!" she said, kissing his cheek soundly. "Missed you, too, Belly-boo!" he squeezed her again.

Normally I would have been jealous at seeing my mate in another's arms, but this was Bella we were talking about. Loyal-to-a-fault, genuine and sincere Bella.

I had nothing to worry about.


	26. Chapter 26

**LEMON!**

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BELLA'S POV

Ah. How satisfying.

Seeing Fuckward destroyed by my own powers was so empowering. Guess I was actually an elemental. Who would have thought?

I was in my mate's arms right now, and I wouldn't have changed a thing. Obviously, before killing Fuckward I looked into his mind and checked he had actually destroyed Victoria. He truly did kill her, after banging her and finding complexion with _my_ name on his lips—which was gross as fuck let me tell you. I hoped to erase that memory from my mind as soon as possible.

After I greeted everyone—I was incredibly happy to see Jasper and Emmett, who introduced me to the two vampires I didn't know, Peter and Charlotte—I turned in Felix's arms and kissed him passionately.

If being held by him sparked marvellous tingling sensations in me, well, being kissed just made me want him there ant then. I had never felt so much desire in my life, both human and vampiric—not that the latter was particularly long.

I barely felt him scoop me up in his arms and race us to what I supposed was his room. His tongue grazed my lips and I eagerly opened them to grant him access. We both opened our mouths simultaneously and began toying with each other's tongues. I moaned like a wanton. He tasted magnificent, like spices and something heavenly masculine. I unlatched myself from his hold and quickly took a look around the room.

It was a very pretty room, not excessively masculine but still suitable for a man. The walls were painted grey, with a white marble floor and a huge king-sized bed. The sheets were a beautiful burgundy colour, and the curtains that framed the huge window were the same colour.

I had no time to see anything more because Felix hugged me from behind and whispered sensually in my ear, causing an electrical current to shake my body: "You cannot really expect me to let you leave me aroused like that and do nothing, right? I'm afraid I'll have to ravish you to satisfy my needs."

At that I shiver. "You have the all clear, my mate" I purr.

His answering growl made my insides clench. He inhaled deeply, sniffing my arousal. He growled again, this time more strongly, and ripped off my clothes in one smooth motion. He chuckled when I squealed. "Are you ready, my love?" he asked. I answered him by grabbing his hair and yanking him closer to me, smashing my mouth to his.

He quickly discarded his clothes, and when I felt his bare skin against mine, I almost fainted with delight. His cock was proudly standing at attention, and I made to touch him, but Felix quickly grabbed my hand before it could make contact. "Not yet, my mate. You come first" he smirked, before throwing me on his bed.

He spread my legs and breathed in the scent that came from my drenched pussy. "So sweet. I bet you taste even better" he whispered sexily, rubbing my wet folds with one long finger. I arched my back, lost in the pleasure he was already giving me, almost laughing when I noticed his gaze immediately lock with my ample breasts. "Do you like them?" I purred, shaking my girls in his face.

He didn't answer me verbally. He simply dove in my chest, licking and sucking every bit of skin, until finally latching onto my right nipple. He started sucking like a baby and I moaned when I felt his tongue swirl around my peaked nipple. I arched my back, pushing more of my breast into his mouth, and he hummed. He switched breast, murmuring a 'so soft, so sweet' in the process.

I gasped when I felt one of his fingers enter me. He had continued to caress my folds while he sucked my breasts, and he was now moving first one, then two fingers inside me. I moaned like a wanton and rubbed my thigh against his hard cock. In response he hissed and bit my breast lightly. I moaned again. I could feel myself coming closer to the edge. "Felix please, baby, I need you!" I begged, moving my hips in time with his fingers inside me.

"Not yet, sexy, but I promise you'll like it" he murmured, releasing my breast with a 'pop'. He then removed his fingers. "What are you doing?" I hissed angrily, missing the contact immediately. He chuckled, "Trust me, I'll make you feel good" he said huskily, and I almost melted at the deep timbre of his voice.

Before I could utter another word, I felt his breath on my most private area. I gasped and then moaned when I felt his tongue lap at my drenched core. I could feel his smirk when he said, "Enjoy, babe."

And hell did I enjoy. His tongue licked my slit and soon I was begging for release. "Please, Felix, please…" I panted, even though I didn't need air. He chuckled huskily, still pleasuring me, "Let me taste your pussy, Bella." My juices were flowing at this point. I felt his tongue lap everything as I pushed his head more firmly between my legs and I heard his hum when he had cleaned me up. At that moment, I thought he was finally going to fuck me senseless, but no. He nibbled my clit, and I was done. A new flow of nectar came out and he greedily tasted every drop as I shouted my release.

When he was done he had the most satisfied smirk ever. "So, did you enjoy?" he murmured, sucking my left nibble while palming my other boob. I moaned, and nodded, but before I could allow myself to get lost in the bliss my mate was making me feel, I used my newborn strength to flip us over. Now I was on top. And I could see every inch of his massive cock.

My mouth filled with venom at the sight and I could feel my eyes darken with lust. "My turn now, my mate" I purred, before leaning down and taking him into my mouth.

His gasp of pleasure made me hum in delight, the vibrations going right through his cock. He moaned, fisting the bedsheets in his hands. "Bella" he moaned. I took him deeper, so deep that I felt the tip of his cock touch the back of my throat and then some. I was actually surprised I could take all of him in my mouth. I began sucking and twirling my tongue. His groans and moans spurred me on. I cupped his balls in my hand, and with the other I grabbed his ass to push him deeper. God, I enjoyed this far too much… well, I guess my new life mission was giving him blow-jobs.

After a few more moans and muttered curses he breathed out "Bella, uh… God! Shit, I'm gonna cum, baby! Uh…" I laughed at his desperate state. I felt empowered. _I _was doing this to him, _I_ was making him cum. He was _mine_. A second later, he came hard in my throat. His spurts seemed unending, and they filled my mouth with his essence. I felt his cock twitch as I swallowed every drop of his sweet seed.

I released him with a 'pop' and smirked at his disbelieving stare. "That was a goddamn fine blow-job!" he said, crashing his mouth on my lips, and forcing them open with his tongue. We made out for a few minutes before I grew tired. "Baby, for fuck's sake, if you don't fuck me senseless on this goddamn bed I'll leave you!" I snarled playfully.

Before I could blink, I was sprawled on the bed with him hovering over my spread legs, my core dripping once more. "Now, we can't have that, can we?" he whispered, biting my ear. "Prepare yourself to be ravished, baby" he said, positioning himself. The head of his cock teased my entrance, and I moaned and protested at the same time. I wanted him pounding inside me! Now! "Baby…" I moaned, and then he entered me with a single hard thrust.

I screamed in pleasure. He filled me so deeply, his cock was huge and felt so great inside me. My walls clenched around him, feeling every vein and ripple of his skin. He groaned "God… Bella, you are so fucking tight! God, I will have to go hard and fast… I can't help it!" I dug my heels in his ass, drawing him even closer until he was sheathed to the balls. "Good, I want it hard and fast. Don't you dare hold back!" I moaned in his ear.

Again, his answer wasn't verbal. He just grabbed my hips and slammed inside me over and over again. The slap of skin against skin was almost as erotic as his growls. As he plunged his hardness inside me he whispered sweet nothings in my ear, but I was too consumed by passion to understand anything he said. My hips moved to meet his every thrust, and I moaned and growled when I felt him hit my special spot. "Oh… uh, Felix… that's—that's the spot!" I managed to say. His thrusts got impossibly faster and harder, and I felt my walls start to clench. I was close.

"Uh… I'm close, baby!" I moaned, trying to keep up with his movements. Even with my newborn speed and strength, it was still hard. His thrusts became more powerful and erratic. He was close, too. "Together" I breathed out, capturing his mouth in a searing kiss. He kissed me deeply as he plunged inside me.

We didn't last much longer.

A few more thrusts and I felt myself come undone. Uncaring of the fact that the entire castle could probably heard me, I shouted my orgasm, arching my back off the bed. Then something strange happened: I felt a strange urge to bite him, it was almost a primitive need. So I did. As I rode the wave of my pleasure, I bit down on his neck. He did the same, thrusting one last time with an almighty roar before biting me while spilling his cool seed in my pussy.

We both remained still, panting and looking into each other's eyes. I felt complete, at peace, and utterly proud of seeing him sport my mark. This way everybody could see he was _mine_ and _mine_ alone.

"That was… Good Lord… amazing!" he panted. I smirked, wiggling my hips, feeling his still-hard cock rub my inner walls, where it was still sheathed. He groaned. "Baby, if you keep doing this, we might not stop for a while" he warned, but he started slowly moving inside me, caressing one breast with his hand. I relaxed into my mate's touch and giggled. "Who said I wanted to stop?"

He smirked devilishly and immediately slammed into me again. I moaned and thrust my breasts in front of his face. His tongue started licking my globes while we made love.

Well, we didn't emerge from our room for a _good_ while.

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**This is the second to last chapter. The next one will be the last. Please, review and tell me what you think of my story (and this lemon in particular)! After the next chapter, I will say what my next story will be, so be ready!**


	27. Chapter 27

**This is the last chapter!**

* * *

FELIX'S POV (_5 months later_)

My mate was amazing. Not only in bed—even though she was passionate like Venus herself—but also her powers.

It had been 5 months from the first time I claimed her and we made love—followed by some good four days of endless fucking—and we were as much in love as possible.

After our mating lust ebbed a bit, Aro himself came barging though our bedroom door. He was lucky my beautiful Bella was covered by the sheets, or else I would have killed him on the spot, king or not. For fuck's sake. He profusely apologized, then proceeded to prattle about a ball. Seriously. A fucking, honest to God ball, in honour of my mating with Bella.

Yeah, right. More like he wanted to organize this shit like an old woman would with a wedding.

Anyways. We hosted the ball three weeks ago, and all the covens were invited. Bella was announced as my mate and also crowned Princess of Volterra and the Volturi. She had been wearing a stunning dress: made of the purest black silk, it hugged her voluptuous curves perfectly, and the plunging neckline accentuated perfectly her Volturi pendant, that sat proudly between her breasts. Her eyes were sparkling when she was crowned.

Ah, yes. Her eyes.

She threw a fit when she saw them. She even questioned if she was a real vampire. My mate was adorable.

Turned out that her eyes were that beautiful platinum because she was an Elemental. We had discovered this a few days before the coronation, when the Egyptian coven arrived. They had a member in their lot, Benjamin, that was an Elemental, too, and his eyes were a deep brown with green speckles. He told us that the colour reflects the element an elemental was most attuned with, and that it might change with time. His was earth, at the moment, while Bella's was apparently metal.

Her elemental power—while the others were a telepathic one and her shield—was the most difficult to harness, and she was still training to best it. I was there the whole time to support her.

Today, I had decided to take the big-as-fuck step. I wanted to marry her, and I was going to ask her today. Shit, if I were still human I would most likely be having a goddamn heart attack.

The Pixie—as I had started calling Alice—and Rosalie had helped me with all the details, while the Major and his brother Emmett had taken the role of Bella's big brothers very seriously and took me out hunting to give me the long ass 'big brother' talk. All of them, along with the Doc and his wife, had decided to remain with un in Volterra for some years, to support Bella and stay near her. The kids were probably joining permanently, though.

Oh God I was nervous!

I had already received Master Marcus' blessing, along with Caius' and Aro's. Carlisle was supportive and Jane threatened me to zap me if I didn't ask Bella to marry me soon. Jesus Christ, those two had become like sisters and were a handful, especially when combined with the two Cullen girls.

I was brought out of my musing by a pair of heels clicking. I turned and saw my beautiful, sexy mate walking in my direction. Since her problems with coordination and balance had been resolved by the change she had started wearing heels more often, and she looked damn good in them.

She was wearing her tiara and her Volturi pendant, her eyes shining brightly. She was truly beautiful, and all mine. _Okay, let's do this_. _Man up, Felix, this is your woman you are proposing to. Make it special_.

"My love" she greeted, and kissed me sweetly.

I returned the kiss, "My mate, you look beautiful." She smiled at that.

"Thanks. Alice said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah. I did."

A few seconds passed and she arched a brow. "So? What do you want to talk about?"

"Yeah, right," I cleared my throat, "I-I wanted to ask you something." _Oh, shit. Did I just stutter?!_

She looked intrigued now, "Ask away."

I held one of her hands in my right one, while with my left I searched for the ring I had hidden in my cloak. Then I dropped on one knee. She gasped.

"Isabella Marie Swan, my mate, my love, my life. You are the light of my existence, the good to my bad, you're my queen. Will you grant me the immense honour and joy of becoming my wife?"

Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked at the ring I held in my hand. It was a beautiful engagement ring, the stone being a round dark ruby, flanked by two smaller diamonds on each side, while the band was made of platinum. **[A/N: if you want to see the engagement ring go on Google and search this: JAMES ALLEN 1.36 CARAT RUBY ROUND CUT SIDE STONES ENGAGEMENT RING IN PLATINUM, and select the Natural Ruby gem]**

All was silent. My nerves were shaking. What is she refused me? what if it was too soon? Hell, she was my mate, but was it too soon to—

My thoughts were interrupted by her lips crashing on mine. We kissed feverishly and when we broke apart there were venom tears in her eyes. "Yes, I will, Felix Volturi. I will proudly call myself your wife for the rest of eternity" she said, her voice thick with emotions.

I smiled the biggest grin of the world and got up, sliding the ring on her slender finger. I looked in her eyes and when our eyes met, we kissed again. I was so happy. Who would have thought that someone as me could get an angel like Bella? But I wasn't complaining. I had my girl—soon wife—and she loved me as much as I loved her. All was good in the world. That's it, until a pixie-sized blur smashed between us, jumping up and down and squealing like a banshee.

"Oh my GOD! This is a marvellous day! We must start preparing the weeding! We don't have time to lose!"

* * *

_3 months later_

I was standing on the altar, waiting for my bride to appear. Alice had outdone herself: Bella had fallen in love with Milan when we had gone there to celebrate our engagement, so we decided to get married in the Duomo di Milano. All the covens were invited and they were all happy and eager to see the Princess getting married—even the Romanians.

Aro was going to perform the ceremony, while Marcus would walk Bella down the aisle. She had been sad that her father couldn't attend, but she had understood the need for secrecy. Caius, Demetri and Santiago were my best men, while Rosalie and Jane were Bella's bridesmaids, with Alice as the best woman. Red roses adorned the Duomo beautifully, the architecture creating a magical, antique atmosphere. All the vampires were dressed for the occasion, sporting bright colours and expensive jewels. Some petty ladies even hoped to outshine my Bella. I mentally snorted. As if that was possible.

Suddenly the music started and I felt my legs wobble. First appeared Jane, wearing a long dark red gown, escorted by Alec, then Rosalie, with the same dress as Jane on, escorted by a grinning Emmett. Then she appeared.

My angel.

My life.

My mate and soon-to-be wife.

She was a vision, a goddess. Her mermaid gown was pure white, with a long train and minuscule crystals that adorned the bodice and skirt. **[A/N: if you want to see it, go on BridesFamily and search ****Elegant Tulle Sweetheart Neckline Natural Waistline Mermaid Wedding Dress With Embroidery & Rhinestones****]**. A thin veil covered her face, but I could still see her beautiful eyes and her rosy lips. Everybody was speechless. She was so fucking beautiful.

Take that, you ladies-who-think-they-can-best-my-bride.

As she reached the altar, she hugged Marcus and turned to me. I lifted her veil, removing the only thing standing between me and my love. She smiled at me, and leaned in to kiss my cheek. I nuzzled her neck but retreated as soon as Aro cleared his throat.

To be honest, I completely tuned out the function, because I was busy looking at Bella and wondering how I was so lucky to have her. Luckily I came back to say 'I do'. When Aro announced that I could kiss the bride, I didn't even let him finish the sentence before I crashed my Bella's body to mine and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

Everybody cheered and applauded, coming to congratulate us.

Life was perfect.

After we went to the reception, and Bella outshone all the ladies with another marvellous gown **[A/N: again, if you want go on BridesFamily and search Vintage Stretch Chiffon Bateau Neckline Mermaid Wedding Dress With Beaded Lace Appliques]**. She was beautiful and the simple dress brought out her eyes, who had started to become blue around the pupils, a sign that she was starting to master water. Her hair were cascading on one of her shoulders, with her Volturi crown and pendant—and obviously her engagement ring and wedding band—as her only jewellery. Simply stunning.

Then we had proceeded to spend the night making love under the stars, before taking the private jet to go travel around the world. Our three months honeymoon would be spent making love, fucking and travelling, just as me and my wife wanted.

When we reached Japan, on our third week, I had asked her if she was liking being married to me and she had answered like this: "Of course, my love. I love you with all my heart, and you are damn good in the bed," I had laughed at that and proceeded to prove that I was just as good in bed as on the beach. After hours of making love, she had taken my face in her hands and whispered, "Besides, we are the perfect couple! Don't they say, in Italy, that in a relationship the man is always taller?"

Yeah. Life was truly perfect.

* * *

**Oh my God! They are so happy!**

**This has been a wonderful journey, and I'm so happy to have had you all as my companions. I cherished every review you even sent me, and if you haven't sent me any, please do!**

**Thank you, dear reader, for loving this story along with me, and I hope the ones I will write in the future will meet your approval.**

**In the next chapter I will post the title and info about the next story I'm going to write. Stay tuned if you want to find out!**


	28. Next Story advertisement

**NEXT STORY!**

**Hello! This isn't a new chapter, but just some info about my next story. I will write this info on the very last chapter of every fanfiction I'll write, so don't stop reading!**

**So, my next story will be an M rated… ***_**drum roll**_*****

**BELLA/JASPER STORY!**

**The title is… **_**My Goddess of War**_

**Let me know it the reviews what do you think it will talk about!**


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